Personification Definition: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what personification is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on personification, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What is personification?

According to Collins English Dictionary, personification refers to describing a non-human thing with humanlike qualities. This attribution of human characteristics or human qualities to things, abstract ideas, or animals is used for literary or artistic effect. This is often used in poetry and prose to create emotions from inanimate objects, similar to a metaphor. With personification, this attribute refers to the representation of a thing as a figure of speech – one might use personification to show that something is the embodiment or incarnation of something else. Many authors have used personification to provide a creature or nonhuman things with the representation of an abstract quality of human attributes, including William Shakespeare, Shel Silverstein in The Giving Tree, and more in popular culture in the Americas and around the world. Giving human actions or human traits to abstract notions is also used in commercials. The pronunciation of personification is pɜːˌsɒnɪfɪˈkeɪʃən.

Many different languages also contain words that mean personification. You may notice that some of these translations of personification look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of personification is provided by Word Sense

  •  Finnish: henkilöitymä‎
  •  Greek: προσωποποίηση‎ (fem.)
  •  Russian: олицетворе́ние‎ (neut.), воплоще́ние‎ (neut.)
  •  Mandarin: 擬人‎, 拟人‎ (nǐrén)
  •  German: Personifizierung‎ (fem.)
  •  Arabic: تجسيد‎ (masc.)
  •  Serbo-Croatian: personifikacija‎ (fem.)
  •  Georgian: გაპიროვნება‎, პერსონიფიკაცია‎
  •  Papiamentu: personificacion‎
  •  French: personnification‎ (fem.)
  •  Portuguese: personificação‎ (fem.)
  •  Dutch: personificatie‎ (fem.)
  •  Polish: uosobienie‎ (neut.), personifikacja‎ (fem.)
  •  Swedish: personifikation‎ (common)
  •  Malay: personifikasi‎
  •  Japanese: 擬人化‎ (gijinka)
  •  Nynorsk: personifikasjon‎ (masc.), personifisering‎ (fem.)
  •  Bokmål: personifikasjon‎ (masc.)
  •  Indonesian: personifikasi‎
  •  Turkish: tecessüm‎

What are examples of personification?

Personification can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of personification that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use.  Take a look at these personification examples from Your Dictionary and see how many you know! 

  •  The stairs groaned as we walked on them.
  •  The sun glared down at me from the sky.
  •  The dish ran away with the spoons.
  •  The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow.
  •  The ivy wove its fingers around the fence.
  •  The ocean waves lashed out at the boat, and the storm continued to brew.
  •  The ocean danced in the moonlight.
  •  The moon smiled at the stars in the sky.
  •  My flowers were begging for water.
  •  He did not realize that his last chance was walking out the door.
  •  The moon played hide and seek with the clouds.
  •  The door protested as it opened slowly.
  •  The words leapt off of the paper as she read the story.
  •  My house is a friend who protects me.
  •  The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as they buzzed from one to another.
  •  The wind howled in the night.
  •  The cactus saluted those who drove past.
  •  The funeral raced by me in a blur.
  •  My alarm clock yells at me to get out of bed every morning.
  •  At precisely 6:30 AM, my alarm clock sprang to life.
  •  The wildfire ran through the forest at an amazing speed.
  •  Lightning danced across the sky.
  •  The thunder grumbled like an old man.
  •  Our vacuum hums a happy tune while it cleans.
  •  Rita heard the last piece of pie calling her name.
  •  The car was suffering and was in need of some TLC.
  •  The camera loves her since she is so pretty.
  •  The river swallowed the earth as the water continued to rise higher and higher.
  •  Her life wandered past.
  •  My computer throws a fit every time I try to use it.
  •  Time flies when you’re having fun.
  •  The run-down house appeared depressed.
  •  The phone awakened with a mighty ring.
  •  The leaves waved in the wind.
  •  The approaching car’s headlights winked at me.
  •  The snow swaddled the earth like a mother would her infant child.
  •  The thunder was grumbling in the distance.
  •  The avalanche devoured anything standing in its way.
  •  The flowers waltzed in the gentle breeze.
  •  The window panes were talking as the wind blew through them.
  •  The car complained as the key was roughly turned in its ignition.

What are other literary techniques and devices?

There are many different grammatical and literary techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading poetry or prose. Knowing these devices is very important because they are always used in writing or speech for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers and listeners understand the speaker or author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of literary devices from Reedsy and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you. 

  •  Tragicomedy
  •  Isocolon
  •  Aphorism
  •  Oxymoron
  •  Repetition
  •  Archetype
  •  Flashback
  •  Chiasmus
  •  Tautology
  •  Tone
  •  Simile
  •  Litotes
  •  Cumulative sentence
  •  Alliteration
  •  Point of view
  •  Euphemism
  •  Dramatic irony
  •  Exposition
  •  Frame story
  •  Irony
  •  Juxtaposition
  •  Imagery
  •  Malapropism
  •  Satire
  •  Paradox
  •  Foreshadowing
  •  Anachronism
  •  Hyperbole
  •  Colloquialism
  •  Metonymy
  •  In Medias Res
  •  Anastrophe
  •  Anthropomorphism
  •  Soliloquy
  •  Synecdoche
  •  Tmesis
  •  Hypophora
  •  Allusion
  •  Polysyndeton
  •  Symbolism
  •  Motif
  •  Anaphora
  •  Zoomorphism
  •  Metaphor
  •  Allegory

Overall, personification is a literary device in which human qualities are attributed to a non-human thing.

Sources:

  1. 45+ Literary Devices and Terms Every Writer Should Know | Reedsy 
  2. Examples of Personification for Kids | Your Dictionary 
  3. Personification definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary 
  4. personification: meaning, origin, translation