Furthermore, Claude McKay's "America" has personification and symbolism. This poem is about America and how she profoundly inspired the speaker. McKay refers to the United States of America as a "woman" throughout the poem. Personification is the process of imbuing an inanimate landmass with human-like traits. Thus, America can be said to have "personified" the continent. In addition, there is symbolism in the poem America. The first thing that anyone should notice when reading this poem is its use of imagery. Throughout the poem, McKay uses images to make his point. For example, he uses words such as "gleam" and "spark" to describe the lights at night on the ocean. These words show that the lights are very bright and they also convey the idea that they come from far away cities so that there would be no city limits on who could afford them. There are also metaphors used in the poem. A metaphor is when one thing is used to stand for another thing. In this case, the speaker uses America to stand for everything good and beautiful about life in the United States. Therefore, America can be said to be a metaphor for freedom and justice. Finally, there are allusions used in the poem. An allusion is when one thing mentions or takes inspiration from another thing that comes from further up in the past.