Question

In which excerpt from the poem does poe use personification?
a. lo! death has reared himself a throne in a strange city lying alone
b. where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
c. no rays from the holy heaven come down on the long night-time of that town;
d. but not the riches there that lie in each idol's diamond eye—

Answer 1

personification is a literary device that applies human qualities to a non-human object. choice A includes the non-human concept death, and death apparently creates a throne in a city. death as a concept does not have the power to make a throne, but death personified--death given a human form--can in fact create a throne.

choice B, C, and D do not have inanimate, lifeless objects taking on human qualities. choice A is the only answer that applies humanlike actions and imagery to a non-human object.