In “Burning the Letters,” Sylvia Plath uses personification to describe the cathartic experience of ridding oneself of the past and to indicate that letting go is difficult but crucial in the process of healing. Through her use of bringing the fire to life, the flames in which she burns the letters from an old love causes the destruction to take on a life of its own. By giving life to the fire, Plath demonstrates the bittersweetness of moving on from something that has been desperately held onto in the past. Through her description of the fire as a being that “may lick and fawn” (15), she personifies the blazing flames as caring; however, she reminds that “[the fire] is merciless” (15). Despite the freedom the fire is providing her, Plath