Question

select the correct answer.
which figure of speech is used in these lines from sonnet 10 of the holy sonnets by john donne?
death, be not proud, though some have called thee
mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
for those whom thou thinkst thou dost overthrow
die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
a. synecdoche
b. personification
c. metonymy
d. metaphor
e. simile

Explanation:

The lines address Death as a person with human traits: being "proud," having the ability to "overthrow" others, and being directly spoken to as an individual. This attribution of human qualities to an abstract concept is the definition of personification. Other options do not fit: synecdoche uses a part for a whole, metonymy uses a related term, metaphor compares unrelated things directly without "like/as", and simile uses "like/as" for comparison (none are present here).

Answer:

B. personification