To the Public

Personification is a literary device in which a non-human thing or idea is given the characteristics of a person. Garrison uses personification to heighten the emotional impact of his statements. He writes, “The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal” (Paragraph 5). The image of statues coming to life and taking more action than human beings is dramatic and even horrifying; it presses home Garrison’s belief that inaction on slavery is as much of a moral failure as support of it.

“To the Public” also personifies the abstract concept of oppression. Garrison writes, “Oppression! I have seen thee face to face, / And met thy cruel eye and cloudy brow” (Paragraph 7). In transforming an abstract principle into a thing with human features, Garrison creates a visceral sense of what he fights against. He transforms his foe into something unappealingly recognizable.

Allusion is a literary device that calls something to mind without mentioning it explicitly. In such a brief editorial, it behooves Garrison to mention writings and ideas implicitly. Rather than summarize or quote directly even his own writings, he nods to them and moves on with the major thrust of his argument.