On the Perfonification of Abftraét Ideas in Poetry. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
An Essay on the PERSONIFICATION of 
ABSTRACT IDEAS 77 PoETRY. 
MONG the various artifices which 
poets have employed in order to 
produce that zovelty which is eflential to 
a high degree of pleafure or furprife, 
none is more remarkable than the exhi- 
bition of new forms of animated beings, 
endowed with peculiar powers and qua- 
lities, by which they are rendered a€tors 
in the fcenes into which they are intro- 
duced. Ofthefe, there are two principal 
fpecies ; the one, comprifing thofe fuper- 
natural beings which derive their origin 
from popular fuperftition or philofophical 
do&rine, modified by the poet’s imagina- 
tion; the other, confifting of creatures 
metely of poetical invention, formed, by 
means of the procefs called perfonificaticn, 
from abftragt ideas of the mind. Of 
thefe laft, Addiion, in one of his elegant 
papers ** On the Pleafures of the Imagi- 
nation” -(Speciator, No. 420), fpeaks in 
the following manner: ‘* There is an- 
other fort of imaginary beings, that we 
fometimes meet with in the poets, when 
the author reprefents any paffion, appe- 
tite, virtue, or vice, under a vilible fhape, 
and makes it a perfon or an aétor in his 
peem.’” To this enumeration, however, 
might have been added fome abftract ideas 
perfonified ; fuch as nature, time, death, 
fleep, and the like, which equally come 
under this head of poetical creation. Of 
fuch, then, it is the purpofe of the pre- 
fent Effay to treat; and it is the manner 
in which thefe fictitious perfonages are 
formed, rather than the propriety of their 
introduction into the poem, that I mean 
at prefent to confider; not excluding, 
however, fome remarks on their imme- 
diate’ agency; which, in faét, may be 
regarded as part of their defcription and 
character. 
On comparing a number of examples 
of this kind of perfonification, it pre- 
{ently appears, that there are two general 
methods by which it is effected. Either 
a fimply human form is drawn, impreffed 
ina fuper-eminent degree with the qua- 
lity or circumftance intended to be per- 
fonified; or a creature of the fancy is 
exhibited, the’ charaéter and defign of 
which is exprefled by certain typical ad- 
juntts or emblems. The firft of thefe 
may be termed a watural, the fecond, an 
emblematical, figure. From the union of 
thefe two modes, a third, or mixed {pe- 
cies ig produced. That thefe diftinctions 
may’ be immediately conceived, I fhall 
MontHLy Mac, No. Xxxu, 
-age, is purely emblemaitzcal. 
407 
briefly elucidate them by well-known 
examples. The paffions of Le Brun, in 
which human faces are marked with the 
ftrongeft expreflions- of anger, terror, 
defire, &c. are merely matural perfoni- 
fications. ‘The common female figure of 
Juftice with her fword, f{cales and band- 
That of 
Plenty, reprefented by a full-fed, cheer- 
ful figure, bearing a cornucopia, is of 
the mixed {pecies. Thefe illuftrations 
are taken from painting; -but the ideas 
may equally be conveyed by — words. 
Under each of the preceding heads I 
fhall adduce a variety of examples from 
the poets, which will give {cope to fuch 
critical remarks, as may tend to eftablifh 
clear and precife notions concerning the 
refpective excellence of the feveral ‘kinds. 
Theatural {pecies of perfonification will 
firft be confidered ; then by an infenfible 
gradation we fhall flide into the szxed, 
and conclude with the purely emblemati- 
cal. 
1. It may be proper before entering 
upon the particulars of this fection, to 
anticipate a doubt which will readily 
fuggelt itfelf to a reflecting mind. In 
what, it may be afked, confifts the merit 
or advantage of a kind of fiétion which 
approaches fo nearly to reality? If rage, 
for inftance, be depicted only by the 
figure of a man ina violent fit of fury, 
what are the inventive powers exerted by 
the poet, or what is gained by the perfon- 
ification? It is to be acknowledged,. that 
in thefe cafes, the merit of zwention, 
peculiarly fo terraed, can fearcely be 
claimed. Yet fince every circumftance 
muft be accumulated by the poet which 
can give force and life to the piece, and 
a general character be formed out: of the 
detached features of a number of indivit 
duals, to which muft frequently be added 
{cenery and accompaniments contrived: to 
correfpond with, and enhance the effects 
of, the leading figure, the-neceflity of 
fuperior defcriptive talents in order to 
fucceed in fuch reprefentations cannot be 
difputed. Then, with refpe¢tto the ufe 
of fuch fiétions, it is. to -be confidered, 
that thefe.unaginary. beings .are not 
merely human agents, circumf{cribed by 
known laws in their operations : -they-are 
a kind of genii, whofe fphere of action: is 
only limited by a congruity dependent-on 
their feveral chara&ters:--But the truth 
of thefe obfervations -will be 4dufficicntly 
illuftrated-during the inveftigation of 
each particular example.:. ; 
I fhall-begin with theyperfonified figure 
of FAMINE, or rather, HUNGER, as 
3°G reprefented 
