ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on personification as a central trope in the literary representation of nature and animal life, as well as an artificial form of language that Wordsworth sought to use sparingly, even while he regarded it as an index of poetic passion. It explores the similarities and differences among the concepts and tropes of humanizing, anthropomorphosis, and personification. The original problem identified by anthropomorphism was the attribution of human shape or characteristics to gods. As Ferguson indicates, in 1815 Wordsworth rejects anthropomorphism in its original sense as the conceiving of the divine in human shape. William Wordsworth’s focus on interspecies relationships leads to a reconsideration of the concepts and tropes of humanizing, anthropomorphism, and personification. Personification for Blair is not anthropocentric but promotes a broader conception of society—a fellowship extending beyond the human.
