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In line 27, the adjective "inexpressible" is used
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AP English Literature and Composition 1.2 Passage Drill 5 242 Views
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Description:
AP English Literature and Composition 1.2 Passage Drill 5. What is being personified?
Transcript
- 00:03
Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by the word "Canst." Because... we canst think
- 00:08
of anything better.
- 00:16
What is being personified?
- 00:18
And here are the potential answers...
- 00:25
Life... life... give our creation... LIIIIIIFE!!!
Full Transcript
- 00:28
Yeah, any time we're faced with a personification question, we're pretty much playing Dr. Frankenstein.
- 00:33
There's something in this poem that is NOT a person, but the author is treating it as
- 00:37
if it IS one.
- 00:38
Let's go through our answer choices and see how everything shakes out...
- 00:41
Is "might" being personified?
- 00:44
Well, it... might. In this case, we're talking about the "power" version of might, not the... "maybe" kind.
- 00:50
The author does call Death "mighty and dreadful" on line 2...
- 00:53
...but, we just kinda answered our own question.
- 00:56
He's using "might" to describe something... so he's not making it a person.
- 01:00
What about pride?
- 01:01
Once again, we won't find the exact word, but we will find a form of it...
- 01:05
...right out of the gate, the poem reads: Death, be not proud...
- 01:08
But again, pride is used as a descriptor here -- not as a person.
- 01:12
C -- Death?
- 01:13
Yup. As often as we've seen Death depicted as the tall creepy guy holding gardening equipment...
- 01:19
...it isn't actually a real person. So, when the poem keeps referring to death like it's
- 01:22
a living, breathing dude -- how ironic... the author is personifying it.
- 01:27
Sleep and Pleasure, while mentioned, are also bogus answers.
- 01:30
C's our guy.
- 01:32
Not that... C is an actual guy...
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