Welcome to Poetics in the Pub!

Michelle Beauchamp (aka Mish) here as your host.

One creative tool that we often play with in our poetry is personification. By giving human characteristics, actions and behaviours to non-human entities or inanimate objects we can add some irony, sarcasm and humour or simply express a point in a creative, imaginative way. We might sprinkle personification into our lines sparingly or throw caution to the wind and indulge completely.

Sylvia Plath does exactly that in her reflective poem….

Mirror

by Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

www.allpoetry.com

When it comes to abstract concepts and emotions, personification helps to develop a visualization, relatability, something concrete that brings the intangible concept to life. Again, this can be done gently or we can delve right in, as Carl Sandburg does here.

Who Am I?

by Carl Sandburg

My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of
universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I
reach my hands and play with pebbles of
destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs
reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive
in the universe.

www.allpoetry.com

I discovered an Article for Teachers called “Square Toes and Icy Arms” by Catherine Barnett. She shares the interactions she had with her students as she introduces personification as a poetic device. I was very impressed with how they rose to the challenge of transforming an emotion to something more human-like.

Here are some examples –

“Anger’s hands are hammers. His teeth are two-edged swords. His head is made of stone. Anger has no face, just two beady little eyes. His eyebrows always hang low. Anger tastes bitter.”

“Sadness has sad, big, blue eyes and skinny lips. He smells like the breeze in the sun. He has a deep low voice. He is never happy and he carries a broken heart in his hand. You can see him in the alleys at night. He is very skinny and has little toes. He wears only a worn-out suit.”

“You never hear Fatigue. He is so quiet and smooth. He comes to you like thirst and leaves like wind. He touches the weakest part of your body, which is your eyes. He lives anywhere he wants to live. …”

Well kudos to these kiddos. Today, let us also rise to the challenge of personifying an abstraction. Below I have compiled a list of ideas, concepts, emotions, qualities, virtues, stages and events in life to choose from. You may also use one of your own, not listed. Transform the abstract into a human character or a creature. Give it human-like qualities, features and actions. Anger? How does it move? Joy? What does it wear? Does Compassion have a face? What does it look like? Fear? Does it speak? Use sensory details to bring it to life.

• Happiness
• Sadness
• Anger
• Disappointment
• Pride
• Love
• Hate
• Disgust
• Amazement
• Anxiety
• Awkwardness
• Joy
• Ecstasy
• Misery
• Jealousy
• Empathy
• Confusion
• Guilt

• Justice
• Time
• Freedom
• Courage
• Safety
• Peace
• Truth
• Chaos
• Wisdom
• Heroism
• Beauty
• Faith
• Success
• Strength
• Honesty
• Dishonesty
• Bravery
• Sincerity
• Creativity
• Trust
• Optimism
• Loyalty
• Authenticity
• Insanity
• Growth
• Control
• Failure
• Poverty
• Kindness
• Compassion
• Integrity
• Patience
• Curiosity
• Hope
• Greed

• Death
• Birth
• Childhood

Here’s how to join in:

• Write a poem of any style in response to the prompt. Post it to your blog
• Click on Mr. Linky below to add your name and direct url to your poem.
• Add a link for dVerse on your page so others can find us.
• Visit other poets on the list to read their poems and comment.
• Join us at the pub to say hello!
• Enjoy!