English
What is personification?
Quick answer
Personification gives human qualities or actions to things that are not human, like The wind howled or The sun smiled down on us.
In one sentence
Personification is describing an object, animal, idea or part of nature as if it were a person, with human feelings or actions.
Explained
Wind cannot really howl in sadness, and the sun cannot smile. But The wind howled and The sun smiled down on the picnic create pictures in the reader's mind, and they carry feelings too. That is personification: giving something non-human the qualities of a person.
It is a kind of metaphor, because it describes one thing as if it were another (a person). Usually it works through the verb: The leaves whispered. The car coughed. The waves crept up the beach. Adjectives and nouns can do it too: the angry sea, the arms of the tree.
Personification is powerful because readers instantly understand human actions. Compare:
- The door opened. (plain)
- The door groaned open. (creepy)
- The door flew open with a cheerful bang. (lively)
The choice of human action sets the mood. A grumbling sky feels threatening; a sleepy village feels calm.
For older students, two related ideas:
- Anthropomorphism is when animals or objects in a story actually behave like people: talking rabbits, a teapot with a personality. Personification is a brief figure of speech; anthropomorphism is the character itself.
- Pathetic fallacy is when the weather or setting reflects a character's mood: a storm raging while a character is angry.
Examples
- The stars winked at us from the dark sky.
- My alarm clock screamed at seven.
- The flowers nodded in the breeze.
- Time crawled during the long exam.
- The hungry flames gobbled the paper.
Common mistakes
- Choosing a human action that clashes with the mood. The gentle tornado tiptoed sounds odd, unless you mean it as a joke.
- Missing it when reading. Ask "Could this thing really do that?" If not, it may be personification.
- Overdoing it. If every object in a paragraph is talking, readers lose track of what is real.
Quick quiz
Personification
Check what you know with 4 quick questions.
Question 1 of 4
Which sentence uses personification?
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For grown-ups
Related topics
Metaphors
A metaphor describes something by saying it is something else, without using like or as, such as The classroom was a zoo or Time is a thief.
Similes
A simile compares one thing to another using like or as, such as as brave as a lion or her eyes shone like stars.
Inference
Inference means working out something the writer has not said directly, using clues in the text plus what you already know. It is often called reading between the lines.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the noise it describes, such as buzz, splash, sizzle, bang or hiss.
Adjectives
An adjective is a word that describes a noun, telling you what kind, which one or how many, like a huge elephant, a sour lemon or three red balloons.
Adverbs
An adverb gives more information about a verb, adjective or another adverb, telling how, when, where or how often, like slowly, tomorrow, outside or always.