Things by Lisel Mueller

The poem, Things, by Lisel Mueller, is an excellent example of how personification is used in poetry.  Personification is the assigning of human attributes to nonliving thing, animals and events of nature.

At first glance, the poem seems so simple and even trivial, perhaps because we use personification on a daily bases. Upon closer examining of this poem, the author unwittingly draws the reader to the question of the origin of personification. Why does personification exist? It may be assumed that personification has ancient origins. In an attempt to explain the events of nature, people would prescribe them human characteristics. Assigning human characteristics to unexplained events makes people feel comfortable and safe. The fear of the unknown drives humans to panic; which in turn, would deprive them of reasonable thought and action.

Lisel Mueller writes, “we…hung tongues inside bells so we could listen to their emotional language”. The sound of the bell is usually calling people and used to attract their attention to some significant event. The sound of the bell supposable, invokes emotional responses in people. It can be a sound of warning, notifying of some upcoming danger, or can be a sound of celebration, like the sound of church bells on a holiday or a wedding. Throughout history, people used this sound and even now in modern age, people still have this emotional attachment to the sound of bell.

She writes, “even what was beyond us was recast in our image”. The uncontrollable natures of evens always were and still are one of the biggest fears for people. Personifying events such as storms, dark caves, unfamiliar territories, calms our fears because it makes uncertain place and events seem more familiar to us. Things that are more common to us, would not stress us as much as things that are strange or unknown, therefore we would less fearful of them. This has a calming effect and allows us to face the unfamiliar more bravely.