“Still will I harvest beauty where it grows” By Edna St. Vincent Millay

Question

Still will I harvest beauty where it grows: In coloured fungus and the spotted fog Surprised on foods forgotten; in ditch and bog Filmed brilliant with irregular rainbows Of rust and oil, where half a city throws Its empty tins; and in some spongy log Whence headlong leaps the oozy emerald frog. . . . And a black pupil in the green scum shows. Her the inhabiter of divers places Surmising at all doors, I push them all. Oh, you that fearful of a creaking hinge Turn back forevermore with craven faces, I tell you Beauty bears an ultra fringe Unguessed of you upon her gossamer shawl!

Give an example of how the poet uses personification in the poem above.

Answer 1

In the poem "Still will I harvest beauty where it grows" by Edna St. Vincent Millay, personification is used when the poet describes Beauty as if it possesses agency and a physical presence. For example, in the line "I tell you Beauty bears an ultra fringe / Unguessed of you upon her gossamer shawl!" the poet suggests that Beauty has the ability to carry or wear something (the "ultra fringe") which is hidden from those who do not seek it. This personification attributes human-like qualities to Beauty, implying that it actively possesses and conceals aspects of itself, inviting the reader to explore and appreciate the beauty in unexpected places.