Millicent L. Pettit wrote the poem “A Message to the Moon” very visually, meaning that the reader isn’t left with much to image/create in their brains. Many poetic devices have been used thought this poem to create feelings and depth, including symbolism and personification and alliteration. Personification has been used to create the bond between the poet and the moon. The sentence “You’re not as dead as you look, they’re after you” is an example of personification as it is implying that the poet is talking to/sending messages to the moon as if it is a human. Personification is also used in the section of the poem where it states; “They’ll build refineries on your forehead
And runways from your eyes to your mouth
They’ll fill you pores with scrap iron
And you nostrils with smog
Your chin will break out in billboards
And your cheeks will be pockmarked with trailer camps”.
This shows personification as it is referring to the moon as a human face by having a forehead, eyes, mouth, nose and cheeks. Throughout the poem the poet is warning the moon to stay hidden and try and become invisible, as if the human race finds something useful on the moon they will tear it apart and build all over its nature beauty with artificial concrete infrastructures. By referring to the moon as human the audience will respond more effectively as they become equal and united. This is how personification was used throughout this poem to create visual imagery.
There is a clear mood through Millicent L. Pettit’s poem “A Message to the Moon”. The mood of the poem is wariness and danger. This poem’s voice is neither 1st nor 3rd person but a message. This poem is written as a message to the moon to warn it is not be obvious or it will be stabbed with drills and covered in cement structures. The feeling of wariness can be seen in the text where it states
“Try to look deader. Forget to wax
Keep on waning. Get off you orbit.
Eclipse!”
This shows that the poet is