Question

Is there a figure of speech found in "Lofty mountains that pierce the clouds and reach to dizzying heights may appear to

us humans as coldly majestic, lonely, even forbidding. Yet to a great variety of

wildlife they constitute home. Some of these creatures would never think of

descending to lower altitudes. And to see them in a zoo, even if they could long

survive such a humiliating experience, one could gain no realistic idea of their way

of life among peaks and chasm"?
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Answer 1

Yes. Personification is the literary device used here. This can be seen in the following expressions:

1. "Lofty mountains that pierce the clouds and reach to ..."

2. "Some of these creatures would never think of ..."

3. "... they (animals) survive such a humiliating experience ..."

The first gives the "lofty mountains" a human attribute with arrows and hands to pierce and reach to dizzying heights. The second gives animals thinking faculty as humans. The third makes it look as if animals could experience humiliation like humans.

In these three instances, one can say that objects and animals were given human attributes to act, think, and behave like human beings.

Step-by-step explanation:

Personification is the assignment of human qualities, motivation, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena (in short to things that are not human). Example, "The news vied for my undivided attention with the novel I was reading. I put down the novel and was carried away by the news."