Personification is a type of figurative language in which an author gives inanimate objects human characteristics. In his poem "As I Grew Older," Langston Hughes uses a couple instances of personification. One example of personification can be seen in his description of the wall. He says that a wall rose, higher and higher, separating him from his dream, as we see in the following lines:
And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly,Between me...
Personification is a type of figurative language in which an author gives inanimate objects human characteristics. In his poem "As I Grew Older," Langston Hughes uses a couple instances of personification.
One example of personification can be seen in his description of the wall. He says that a wall rose, higher and higher, separating him from his dream, as we see in the following lines:
And then the wall rose,
Rose slowly,
Slowly,
Between me and my dream.
Yet, this wall rises by itself, whereas walls can only literally rise due to the work of human hands. Since humans are absent in his description of the wall rising, we know he is describing the wall as being able to rise of its own accord, which is giving the wall human characteristics, or personifying the wall.
A second example of personification can be seen in the commands he gives his hands:
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Hands do not move of their own accord to fulfill commands. Instead, people use hands to fulfill their own desired purposes. Since Hughes is characterizing his hands as being able to listen and follow through with a command, we know he is giving his hands human characteristics, which is personification.
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