Question

Which poetic techniques are illustrated in the opening lines “I am fourteen/and my skin has betrayed me/the boy I cannot live without/still sucks his thumb/in secret”?

alliteration and metaphor
allusion and alliteration
apostrophe and simile
personification and enjambment

Answer 1

Personification and Enjambment.

The line "and my skin has betrayed me" implies that his skin has literally committed an act of treachery against him, which is something only a human can do; a human quality.

Each of the lines are actually a continuation of a sentence, and only come to a full stop until the end, thus enjambment was used here.