The ghost moon sails a-mong the clouds

From Africa, the winds, they talk of changes coming

Late last night the rain was knocking on my window

I thought I saw down in the street
The spirit of the century
Telling us that we're all standing on the border

For all of these lines (key lines, I'd say), the literary device is personifican -- taking something that isn't human (the moon, the wind, the rain, the spirit of the century), and giving it human characteristics.

One other literary device that is used is synecdoche (the use of the part to represent the whole, or vice verse):

The hand that sets the farms alight

It's not just one hand, but people (who have and use hands) who set the farms alight...