ShmoopTube

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Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by the word "Canst." Because... we canst think

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of anything better.

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What is being personified?

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And here are the potential answers...

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Life... life... give our creation... LIIIIIIFE!!!

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Yeah, any time we're faced with a personification question, we're pretty much playing Dr. Frankenstein.

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There's something in this poem that is NOT a person, but the author is treating it as

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if it IS one.

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Let's go through our answer choices and see how everything shakes out...

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Is "might" being personified?

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Well, it... might. In this case, we're talking about the "power" version of might, not the... "maybe" kind.

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The author does call Death "mighty and dreadful" on line 2...

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...but, we just kinda answered our own question.

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He's using "might" to describe something... so he's not making it a person.

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What about pride?

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Once again, we won't find the exact word, but we will find a form of it...

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...right out of the gate, the poem reads: Death, be not proud...

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But again, pride is used as a descriptor here -- not as a person.

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C -- Death?

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Yup. As often as we've seen Death depicted as the tall creepy guy holding gardening equipment...

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...it isn't actually a real person. So, when the poem keeps referring to death like it's

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a living, breathing dude -- how ironic... the author is personifying it.

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Sleep and Pleasure, while mentioned, are also bogus answers.

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C's our guy.

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Not that... C is an actual guy...

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