Personification – Definition, Meaning and Examples

A figure of speech where a thought or object is given human traits and/or sentiments, or is spoken about as if it is human, is known as Personification. Personification is a type of Metaphor in which human attributes are ascribed to inhuman entities. This enables authors to give inanimate things, creatures, and even conceptual concepts of life and motion by imbuing them with identifiable human actions and emotions.

Personification

We can also say that Personification is one of the numerous literary methods used by authors to make their work more interesting. Similes and Metaphors are other frequent literary techniques. Personification emphasizes the traits of a non-human by characterizing them with human characteristics. That non-human being may be an item, a creature, or perhaps an abstract notion.

What is Personification?

Personification is a prominent literary technique that may be found in many genres. It can be found in song, drama, and art.  It is more evident in the lyrical examples, but it is also interwoven into the language in a manner that seems clear and genuine manner.

Personification Definition:

In literature and art, the portrayal of an abstract trait or concept in the shape of a person, beast, etc. is called Personification. 

In other words, “The imbuing of anything non-human with a personal essence or human attributes, or the depiction like conceptual importance of the human version.”

How to use Personification in a Sentence?

Personification may be used in a phrase to both express something succinctly and to add greater meaning and relationship to an item or quality being represented. It is, however, metaphorical, and hence cannot be employed in formal essays, professional or technical writing, or to communicate something literal. When using Personification in a statement, ensure that it makes good sense. Personification, as with any other figure of speech, should only be used when absolutely essential. Personification may be utilized to help your audience connect that with characters in your work, both natural and quasi. The one thing you must remember is to use the appropriate words to explain exactly what you want to communicate.

Check: Figures of Speech

Purpose of Personification

Personification may be used for the following purposes:

• Describe things and concepts using human traits, behavior, and emotions.
• Make a more realistic representation of reality by including sensory information.
• Giving inanimate or abstract objects human feelings and thinking.
• Create human attributes for nonliving creatures to let the reader connect with the tale more deeply.
•  Personification is used to make a tale more fascinating by adding specifics and descriptions.
• Describe many components of a scene, such as a climate and a place physically, to explain it.

History of Personification

Personification has been around since the Neolithic era. It has existed from the beginning of time when people began telling stories. Personification has been employed to make those stories’ principles more approachable and powerful. Personification was originally discovered in ancient Greek literature. Even back then, it was a well-known literary technique. During the period, depictions of Alexandra were personified; the Roman deity was personified. Personification was commonly utilized in ancient Rome by the literary elite of the period. Personification was also discovered in religious writings. Personification has been witnessed in several societies throughout history. As the basis of symbolism, it has evolved into an allegory for transmitting many concepts and stories.

Personification Examples

Personification Examples from Literature:

• The clouds become angry and began to rain.
• My teddy loves me.
• Trees hugged the ground tightly.
• The lonely home cried for people.
• The huge walls protected us.  
• The flowers danced in the rain.
• The yummy pastry was calling me.
• The sun wore a shining jacket of heat.
• The stars were playing hide and seek with clouds.
• My computer seems to be unhappy. 

Personification Examples in Poetry

 In the poetry of John Keats, we found a better example of Personification “To Autumn” 

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run

Keats used it to give the natural world a human element in this example, the season, as well as the sun of fall, well as the season of fall is both personified beings. Words like “conspiring” and “bosom-friend” convey the intimacy of their relationship.

“The Tiger in the Smoke” by Margery Allingham here is another beautiful example of personification

The fog had crept into the taxi where it crouched panting in a traffic jam.

 It oozed in ungenially, to smear sooty fingers over the two elegant young people who sat inside.

Margery Allingham expertly employs Personification to build the tone of this 1950s murder tale. The description of the fog as a living creature and malicious, trying to reach out hands coated in huge smoke to interfere with the couple’s evening, employs rich language to design a strong symbol, and the contrast of the “elegant young people” and the picture of the fog truly works to attract the reader further into the story.

Examples of Personification in Poems

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

“Mirror” by Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it for so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Difference between Personification and Anthropomorphism

Personification and Anthropomorphism are writing practices in which animals and some other non-human entities are given human traits. Personification and Anthropomorphism differ primarily in that Personification is the contribution of human traits to being something nonhuman, or the reflection of an esoteric quality in a human context, so even though Anthropomorphism is the adaptation of human traits to a deity, living creature, or entity. 

Personification – FAQs

What does Personification mean?

The imbuing of anything non-human with a personal essence or human attributes, or the depiction like conceptual importance of the human version.

What is a Personification simple definition?

Personification is one of the numerous literary methods used by authors to make their work more interesting. Similes and Metaphors are other frequent literary techniques. Personification emphasizes the traits of a non-human by characterizing them with human characteristics. That non-human being may be an item, a creature, or perhaps an abstract notion.

What are 10 Examples of Personification?

The flowers danced in the rain.

• The yummy pastry was calling me.
• The sun wore a shining jacket of heat.
• The stars were playing hide and seek with clouds.
• My computer seems to be unhappy. 
• The clouds become angry and began to rain.
• My teddy loves me.
• Trees hugged the ground tightly.
• The lonely home cried for people.
• The huge walls protected us.

Why do we use Personification?

Personification may be used for the following purposes-

• Describe things and concepts using human traits, behaviour, and emotions.
• Make a more realistic representation of reality by including sensory information.
• Giving inanimate or abstract objects human feelings and thinking.
• Create human attributes for nonliving creatures to let the reader connect with the tale more deeply.
• Personification is used to make a tale more fascinating by adding specifics and descriptions.
• Describe many components of a scene, such as a climate and a place physically, to explain it.