The following question is based on Petrarch - Sonnet 18.

When I have turned my eyes to that place
where my lady's lovely face shines,
and that light leaves me not a thought
while I burn and melt away inside,

I fear lest my heart parts from my self,
and seeing the end of my light nearing,
I go like a blind man, without light,
who knows no way to go, but must depart.

I receive so many deadly blows
I flee: but not so quickly that desire
does not come with me as is his wont.

I go silently, since one deadly word
would make men weep: and I desire
that my tears might be shed alone.

When I have turned my eyes to that placewhere my lady's lovely face shines,and that light leaves me not a thoughtwhile I burn and melt away inside,I fear lest my heart parts from my self,and seeing the end of my light nearing,I go like a blind man, without light,who knows no way to go, but must depart.I receive so many deadly blowsI flee: but not so quickly that desiredoes not come with me as is his wont.I go silently, since one deadly wordwould make men weep: and I desirethat my tears might be shed alone.
In the third stanza, what does the speaker personify?
a.
death
c.
love
b.
desire
d.
fear

Personification is a literary technique that gives human characteristics to non-human entities or ideas. In other words, when non-living things and abstract ideas are given living characteristics, that is known as personification.

In Petrarch's "Sonnet 18", the speaker talks about his love for his lady, most probably Laura, who's been the subject of all of his sonnets. And in the third stanza, we see him personifying death. He reveals, "I flee: but not so quickly that desire/does not come with me as is his wont." Here, the desire he's talking about is the desire to die, to "[see] the end of [his] light". And he's complaining that the desire to die does not come as swiftly as he had hoped, and unlike how death often happens. So, he's personifying that desire, referring it as "his".

Thus, the correct answer is option b.