Versatility in Cross-Cultural Variations of Personification

Literature was first structured by great figures’ literary and non-literary works that gave birth to the metaphorical conceptualization. The personalities like Dante and Rumi who developed the first social-cultural universality by using personifications – though from two different parts of the world. The power of poetry which can be created in personification is one of the different ways to bring universality of the metaphorical expressions into literature. Although personification is the important part of metaphorical poetry, very few researchers analyzed it. To this end, inspired form Kovecses (2007) classification of metaphoric expressions, it was attempted to analyze Rumi’s Masnavi Ma?navi’s (Spiritual Couplets) first (4003 verses) and second books (3822 verses) in terms of personification along with Dante’s Devine comedy including Inferno and Paradise. Chi-square test was run to find the type, the frequency and significance of the personification’s application in these two poets’ works. Findings revealed significant differences namely, nature and animate personifications in these great works. Finally, it was revealed that poetry could manifest different socio-cultural and religious bonds between different societies. Key words: Personification; Conceptualization; Metaphorical expressions