This question is missing the options. I have found the complete question online. Since the passage and instructions are the same, I will only post the answer choices here:
A. regular rhyme
B. regular meter
C. personification
D. repetition
Answer:
The characteristic of Walt Whitman's poetry illustrated by the phrase "It may be you" is:
D. repetition
Step-by-step explanation:
Walt Whitman is known as the father of free verse. That means he chose not to worry about regular meter or rhymes in his poetry. With that information, we can already eliminate options A and B.
Personification is a literary device that consists of attributing human traits or behaviors to inanimate objects. The phrase "It may be you" does not illustrate that.
The answer is letter D, repetition. Whitman repeats the phrase "It may be you" in every single line in the excerpt. Repetition is a literary and rhetorical device used for emphasis. It may consist of the repetition of a single word, a phrase, or a whole sentence.