Question

When the poet says, ‘If you can dream – and not make dreams your master, he is personifying dreams, i.e. dreams are spoken of as masters who can control our lives. In this case, dreams assume a human role/qualify.

Answer 1

Pick out other expressions where the poet uses personification. 

a) Triumph and disaster treated as impostors. 

b) Will which says ‘Hold on’. ‘

Unforgiving minutes’ is a metaphoric expression as it refers to time that waits for no man; it is like a race where every second is important. 

Now, identify other metaphoric expressions used in the poem. 

Deal in lies, twisted by knaves, one heap of all your winnings, breathe a word, unforgiving minute, sixty second’s worth of distance