"...watching the trees at the edge of town that reluctantly moved to the slow wind. The palms beyond them were still, as if awaiting something." What literary device is used in these lines, and what is the effect of this literary device?

The literary device used in the poem is Personification. The effect of personification is that it gives trees and palms human-like character and bring human life to them.

Explanation

Personification is that figure of speech that renders non-human character human form by way of comparison. Therefore, non-human characters are given a humanistic form which helps the readers understand the character better and even sometimes empathize with them. In Personification human qualities and features are given to non-human entities which eventually allow them to compare their different feature and character. This subsequently allows them to be understood better by the readers and the audience at large.  Personification is the most common literary device which is used by writers and poets, in particular, to express their ideas and visions better and more specifically. All together there are about ten literary devices which are also called figures of speech of which personification stands out to be the most important one. In the given lines "...watching the trees at the edge of town that reluctantly moved to the slow wind. The palms beyond them were still as if awaiting something", the poet had tried to personify trees with the human that moved very hesitantly while the palms were unmoved.