The Aeneid: Personification 2 key examples

Although it is the Sibyl who delivers prophecies, the descriptions of her cavern makes it seem as though the prophecies might emanate from the place rather than the character. When Aeneas visits her, she instructs him to pray and swear his vows, saying that only then "will the great jaws of our spellbound house gape wide." Through this mysterious description of her cavern, in which she both personifies it by giving it jaws and metaphorically compares it to a house, she suggests that it's the cavern that delivers her prophecies. At the same time, this combination of these literary devices leaves it unclear how her powers actually work.

When Apollo begins to communicate through the Sibyl, the narrator metaphorically describes the process as "the hundred immense mouths of the house [swinging] open." This description involves multiple figurative layers. Not only does the cavern feature a hundred tunnels that are like a hundred mouths, these hundred mouths are also described like doors of a house. The dramatic scene sustains the mystery of how the Sibyl's powers work—and what really takes place in the cave with the hundred tunnels, mouths, and doors.

In the first books of The Aeneid, the Tiber is mainly evoked as a distant symbol. In Book 2, when Creusa elaborates on Aeneas's destiny, she tells him that he'll eventually "reach Hesperian land, where Lydian Tiber flows with its smooth march through rich and loamy fields." And when Aeneas recounts his time with Helenus and Andromache in Book 3, he recalls saying that if he ever reaches "the Tiber, the fields on Tiber's banks" and sees his people secure behind his promised walls, they can make their people one. In Book 5, Venus also evokes the river when she begs Jupiter to keep the Trojans safe: "I beg you, [...] let them reach the Tiber." In all of these instances, the Tiber functions as a sort of end goal and safe haven.  

The repeated mentions of the Tiber in the Aeneid's first half build up the reader's anticipation for when Aeneas will finally reach it. Aeneas himself shares this anticipation, which Virgil demonstrates when the character spots the river for the first time at the start of Book 7:

But now Aeneas, still at sea, scanning the offing,

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spots an enormous wood and running through it,

the Tiber in all its glory, rapids, whirlpools

golden with sand and bursting out to sea. And over it,

round it, birds, all kinds, haunting the riverbed and banks,

entrance the air with their song and flutter through the trees.

“Change course!” he commands his men. “Turn prows to land!”

And he enters the great shaded river, overjoyed.

This first description of the actual Tiber underlines its significance in the poem. The river's golden glory and the birds thriving around it add to the reader's sense that the river is a safe haven for Aeneas and the Trojans. The command Aeneas gives his men shows that the river makes him certain that he's in the right place. Throughout the poem, the narrator often describes Aeneas expressing sadness and weariness, but here he's simply "overjoyed."

At the start of Book 8, Virgil develops the Tiber even further. Personifying the river through deification, he makes it come alive as a sort of character. While Aeneas sleeps, "the god of the lovely river, old Tiber himself" appears in his dream to "ease him of his anguish." The river god tells Aeneas that his home here is "assured" and promises to lead him upstream to seek king Evander as an ally:

I am the flowing river that you see, sweeping the banks

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and cutting across the tilled fields rich and green.

I am the river Tiber. Clear blue as the heavens,

stream most loved by the gods who rule the sky.

My great home is here,

my fountainhead gives rise to noble cities.

With these grand words, Tiberinus raises Aeneas's spirits. Moreover, the alliance between the river and Aeneas confirms their mutual importance in Roman history. Virgil sustains the personification of the river as it carries Aeneas upstream: "all night long the Tiber lulled his swell, checking his current so his waves would lie serene, silent." Not only is Aeneas devout to the gods, the gods also serve him in return.

In the first books of The Aeneid, the Tiber is mainly evoked as a distant symbol. In Book 2, when Creusa elaborates on Aeneas's destiny, she tells him that he'll eventually "reach Hesperian land, where Lydian Tiber flows with its smooth march through rich and loamy fields." And when Aeneas recounts his time with Helenus and Andromache in Book 3, he recalls saying that if he ever reaches "the Tiber, the fields on Tiber's banks" and sees his people secure behind his promised walls, they can make their people one. In Book 5, Venus also evokes the river when she begs Jupiter to keep the Trojans safe: "I beg you, [...] let them reach the Tiber." In all of these instances, the Tiber functions as a sort of end goal and safe haven.  

The repeated mentions of the Tiber in the Aeneid's first half build up the reader's anticipation for when Aeneas will finally reach it. Aeneas himself shares this anticipation, which Virgil demonstrates when the character spots the river for the first time at the start of Book 7:

But now Aeneas, still at sea, scanning the offing,

Cite this Quote

spots an enormous wood and running through it,

the Tiber in all its glory, rapids, whirlpools

golden with sand and bursting out to sea. And over it,

round it, birds, all kinds, haunting the riverbed and banks,

entrance the air with their song and flutter through the trees.

“Change course!” he commands his men. “Turn prows to land!”

And he enters the great shaded river, overjoyed.

This first description of the actual Tiber underlines its significance in the poem. The river's golden glory and the birds thriving around it add to the reader's sense that the river is a safe haven for Aeneas and the Trojans. The command Aeneas gives his men shows that the river makes him certain that he's in the right place. Throughout the poem, the narrator often describes Aeneas expressing sadness and weariness, but here he's simply "overjoyed."

At the start of Book 8, Virgil develops the Tiber even further. Personifying the river through deification, he makes it come alive as a sort of character. While Aeneas sleeps, "the god of the lovely river, old Tiber himself" appears in his dream to "ease him of his anguish." The river god tells Aeneas that his home here is "assured" and promises to lead him upstream to seek king Evander as an ally:

I am the flowing river that you see, sweeping the banks

Cite this Quote

and cutting across the tilled fields rich and green.

I am the river Tiber. Clear blue as the heavens,

stream most loved by the gods who rule the sky.

My great home is here,

my fountainhead gives rise to noble cities.

With these grand words, Tiberinus raises Aeneas's spirits. Moreover, the alliance between the river and Aeneas confirms their mutual importance in Roman history. Virgil sustains the personification of the river as it carries Aeneas upstream: "all night long the Tiber lulled his swell, checking his current so his waves would lie serene, silent." Not only is Aeneas devout to the gods, the gods also serve him in return.