What Is Personification? All About a Common Literary Device

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Personification is a type of figurative language where human attributes or emotions are assigned to inanimate objects, animals or ideas. In creative writing, personification can help explain concepts that are hard to grasp or make abstract ideas more relatable.

When you hear a phrase like "The wind whispered through the trees," can you imagine the eerie chill? When you read "Time marches on," do you feel the pressure to move forward? That's personification at work.

What Is Personification?

Personification shares similarities with other literary devices, including metaphors and anthromorphism.

A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as." Personification is a type of metaphor where human qualities are given to nonhuman things. So, all personification is metaphor, but not all metaphors are personification.

For example, "The cat's meow is music to my ears" is a metaphor, but it's not personification because it compares the meow to music, not by giving human qualities to the meow itself. If it were "The cat serenaded me with its nightly meows," that would be called personification.

Anthropomorphism is another literary device that's similar to personification, but anthromorphism goes a step further by creating characters. Anthropomorphism gives nonhuman things actual human form or behavior, which typically includes talking, wearing clothes and having complex social lives.

Think of children's stories, such as "Toy Story," when the race car and toy dinosaur become sad at the thought of being left behind.

Personification, by contrast, uses the human characteristics to create imagery or add emotional depth. The effectiveness of personification often depends on the literary context. A phrase like "the angry storm" might feel cliché in a weather report but resonate deeply within a dramatic narrative.

A Few Examples of Personification in Literature

Personification is used across all types of writing, but it's particularly striking in poetry and literature. One of the most famous examples of personification comes from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet":

Here, the sun is given the human traits of fairness and power, as well as the human action of killing the moon. The moon is described with human emotions like envy and grief, in addition to the human physical conditions of being sick and pale. These human qualities make the celestial bodies more relatable and inject the scene with heightened drama and emotion.

In "A Midsummer Night’s Dream," Shakespeare uses personification to animate nature itself:

By describing winter as if it has breath, Shakespeare turns an abstract idea into something tangible and almost alive, helping readers feel the chill of the scene.

Such famous examples of personification highlight its ability to transform abstract ideas into compelling, sensory experiences.

10 Personification Examples in Everyday Language

Even outside the realm of literature, personification is everywhere in everyday speech. These phrases are so common that we often don’t even realize we’re using figurative language.

Here are some examples:

1. Time flies when you're having fun.

2. The camera loves her.

3. The sun peeked through the clouds.

4. Opportunity is knocking at the door.

5. The fire roared in the fireplace.

6. The city never sleeps.

7. The ocean called to her.

8. Fear crept into my heart.

9. The thunder growled in the distance.

10. Jealousy reared its ugly head.

We created this article in conjunction with AI technology, then made sure it was fact-checked and edited by a HowStuffWorks editor.

Original article: What Is Personification? All About a Common Literary Device

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