212. Money (pg 279)

This poem uses a lot of personification to describe the money. It makes the money seem almost like a pet. "It will nest in your pocket or curl up in a corner." Also,  "It will delight your friends, shake hands with men like a dog and lick the legs of women." Dogs are deemed as man's best friend. Whether this is meant to be sarcastic or not, it shows that some people to regard money as their best friend, and possibly only friend. This personification leads to the thinking that perhaps money is the new best friend of man. It needs excersise, water and gives affection. The entire poem is based off of the comparison of money to dogs.
There was also a very important simile. "But like an amoeba it makes love in secret only to itself" This was a huge transition from the happy go lucky friendly dog-like figure that was discussed earlier. An amoeba is a brainless, non thinking organism that doesnt love. This shows the real side of money. That it may look like your best friend but it is really only looking out for itself and will do nothing for you if you try to love it. This connects to the end of the poem in which this amoeba bites your hand and poisons your heart.
The personification in this poem gave a mental picture of the money as an induvidual figure that will look friendly to you, but according to the simile it is only an amoeba with no love at all. These show a lot about money and how much people can get caught up in it.
This poem made me realize that some people are seduced by the friendliness of money but if you spend too much time focusing on it and taking care of it like its your pet, you're going to turn greedy and obsessed with money, or as the poem referred to it as--poisoned to the heart.