examples of personification in creative writing

Personification

Definition of personification.

Personification is a figure of speech in which an idea or thing is given human attributes and/or feelings or is spoken of as if it were human. Personification is a common form of metaphor in that human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things. This allows writers to create life and motion within inanimate objects, animals, and even abstract ideas by assigning them recognizable human behaviors and emotions.

Personification is a literary device found often in children’s literature. This is an effective use of figurative language because personification relies on imagination for understanding. Of course, readers know at a logical level that nonhuman things cannot feel, behave, or think like humans. However, personifying nonhuman things can be an interesting, creative, and effective way for a writer to illustrate a concept or make a point.

For example, in his picture book, “The Day the Crayons Quit,” Drew Daywalt uses personification to allow the crayons to express their frustration at how they are (or are not) being used. This literary device is effective in creating an imaginary world for children in which crayons can communicate like humans.

Common Examples of Personification

Here are some examples of personification that may be found in everyday expression:

• My alarm yelled at me this morning.
• I like onions, but they don’t like me.
• The sign on the door insulted my intelligence.
• My phone is not cooperating with me today.
• That bus is driving too fast.
• My computer works very hard.
• However, the mail is running unusually slow this week.
• I wanted to get money, but the ATM died.
• This article says that spinach is good for you.
• Unfortunately, when she stepped on the Lego, her foot cried.
• The sunflowers hung their heads.
• That door jumped in my way.
• The school bell called us from outside.
• In addition, the storm trampled the town.
• I can’t get my calendar to work for me.
• This advertisement speaks to me.
• Fear gripped the patient waiting for a diagnosis.
• The cupboard groans when you open it.
• Can you see that star winking at you?
• Books reach out to kids.

Examples of Personification in Speech or Writing

Here are some examples of personification that may be found in everyday writing or conversation:

• My heart danced when he walked in the room.
• The hair on my arms stood after the performance.
• Why is your plant pouting in the corner?
• The wind is whispering outside.
• Additionally, that picture says a lot.
• Her eyes are not smiling at us.
• Also, my brain is not working fast enough today.
• Those windows are watching us.
• Our coffee maker wishes us good morning.
• The sun kissed my cheeks when I went outside.

Famous Personification Examples

Think you haven’t heard of any  famous personification examples? Here are some well-known and recognizable titles and quotes featuring this figure of speech:

• “The Brave Little Toaster” ( novel by Thomas M. Disch and adapted animated film series)
• “This Tornado Loves You” (song by Neko Case)
• “Happy Feet” (animated musical film)
• “Time Waits for No One” (song by The Rolling Stones)
• “The Little Engine that Could” (children’s book by Watty Piper)
•    “The sea was angry that day, my friends – like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.” (Seinfeld television series)
•    “Life moves pretty fast.” (movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”)
•    “The dish ran away with the spoon.” (“ Hey, diddle, diddle ” by Mother Goose)
•    “The Heart wants what it wants – or else it does not care” ( Emily Dickinson )
•    “Once there was a tree, and she loved a little boy.” (“The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein)

Difference Between Personification and Anthropomorphism

Personification is often confused with the literary term anthropomorphism due to fundamental similarities. However, there is a difference between these two literary devices . Anthropomorphism is when human characteristics or qualities are applied to animals or deities, not inanimate objects or abstract ideas. As a literary device, anthropomorphism allows an animal or deity to behave as a human. This is reflected in Greek dramas in which gods would appear and involve themselves in human actions and relationships.

In addition to gods, writers use anthropomorphism to create animals that display human traits or likenesses such as wearing clothes or speaking. There are several examples of this literary device in popular culture and literature. For example, Mickey Mouse is a character that illustrates anthropomorphism in that he wears clothes and talks like a human, though he is technically an animal. Other such examples are Winnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear, and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Therefore, while anthropomorphism is limited to animals and deities, personification can be more widely applied as a literary device by including inanimate objects and abstract ideas. Personification allows writers to attribute human characteristics to nonhuman things without turning those things into human-like characters, as is done with anthropomorphism.

Writing Personification

Overall, as a literary device, personification functions as a means of creating imagery and connections between the animate and inanimate for readers. Therefore, personification allows writers to convey meaning in a creative and poetic way. These figures of speech enhance a reader’s understanding of concepts and comparisons , interpretations of symbols and themes , and enjoyment of language.

Here are instances in which it’s effective to use personification in writing:

Demonstrate Creativity

Personification demonstrates a high level of creativity. To be valuable as a figure of speech, the human attributes assigned to a nonhuman thing through personification must make sense in some way. In other words, human characteristics can’t just be assigned to any inanimate object as a literary device. There must be some connection between them that resonates with the reader, demanding creativity on the part of the writer to find that connection and develop successful personification.

Exercise Poetic Skill

Many poets rely on personification to create vivid imagery and memorable symbolism . For example, in Edgar Allan Poe ’s poem “ The Raven ,” the poet skillfully personifies the raven through allowing it to speak one word, “nevermore,” in response to the narrator ’s questions. This is a powerful use of personification, as the narrator ends up projecting more complex and intricate human characteristics onto the bird as the poem continues though the raven only speaks the same word.

Create Humor

Personification can be an excellent tool in creating humor for a reader. This is especially true among young readers who tend to appreciate the comedic contrast between a nonhuman thing being portrayed as possessing human characteristics. Personification allows for creating humor related to incongruity and even absurdity.

Enhance Imagination

Overall, personification is a literary device that allows readers to enhance their imagination by “believing” that something inanimate or nonhuman can behave, think, or feel as a human. In fact, people tend to personify things in their daily lives by assigning human behavior or feelings to pets and even objects. For example, a child may assign emotions to a favorite stuffed animal to match their own feelings. In addition, a cat owner may pretend their pet is speaking to them and answer back. This allows writers and readers to see a reflection of humanity through imagination. Readers may also develop a deeper understanding of human behavior and emotion.

Examples of Personification in Literature

Example #1: the house on mango street (sandra cisneros).

But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath.

In the first chapter of Cisneros’s book, the narrator Esperanza is describing the house into which she and her family are moving. Her parents have promised her that they would find a spacious and welcoming home for their family, similar to what Esperanza has seen on television. However, their economic insecurity has prevented them from getting a home that represents the American dream.

Cisneros uses personification to emphasize the restrictive circumstances of Esperanza’s family. To Esperanza, the windows of the house appear to be “holding their breath” due to their small size, creating an image of suffocation. This personification not only enhances the description of the house on Mango Street for the reader, but it also reflects Esperanza’s feelings about the house, her family, and her life. Like the windows, Esperanza is holding her breath as well, with the hope of a better future and the fear of her dreams not becoming reality.

Example #2:  Ex-Basketball Player (John Updike)

Off work, he hangs around Mae’s Luncheonette. Grease-gray and kind of coiled, he plays pinball, Smokes those thin cigars, nurses lemon phosphates. Flick seldom says a word to Mae, just nods Beyond her face toward bright applauding tiers Of Necco Wafers, Nibs, and Juju Beads.

In his poem about a former basketball player named Flick, Updike recreates an arena crowd watching Flick play pinball by personifying the candy boxes in the luncheonette. The snack containers “applaud” Flick as he spends his free time playing a game that is isolating and requires no athletic skill. However, the personification in Updike’s poem is a reflection of how Flick’s life has changed since he played and set records for his basketball team in high school.

Flick’s fans have been replaced by packages of sugary snacks with little substance rather than real people appreciating his skills and cheering him on. Like the value of his audience , Flick’s own value as a person has diminished into obscurity and the mundane now that he is an ex-basketball player.

Example #3:  How Cruel Is the Story of Eve (Stevie Smith)

It is only a legend , You say? But what Is the meaning of the legend If not To give blame to women most And most punishment? This is the meaning of a legend that colours All human thought; it is not found among animals. How cruel is the story of Eve, What responsibility it has In history For misery.

In her poem, Smith personifies the story of Eve as it is relayed in the first book of the Bible,  Genesis . Smith attributes several human characteristics to this story, such as cruelty and responsibility. Therefore, this enhances the deeper meaning of the poem which is that Eve is not to blame for her actions, essentially leading to the “fall” of man and expulsion from Paradise In addition, she is not to blame for the subjugation and inequality that women have faced throughout history and tracing back to Eve.

Eve’s “story” or “legend” in the poem is accused by the poet of coloring “all human thought.” In other words, Smith is holding the story responsible for the legacy of punishment towards women throughout history by its portrayal of Eve, the first woman, as a temptress and sinner. The use of this literary device is effective in separating Eve’s character as a woman from the manner in which her story is told.

Related posts:

• 10 Songs with Meaningful Personification
• 10 Fun Examples of Personification in Poetry
• Romeo and Juliet Personification
• Brevity is the Soul of Wit
• The Fault, Dear Brutus
• Hamlet Act-I, Scene-I Study Guide

Post navigation

Become a Bestseller

Follow our 5-step publishing path.

Fundantals of Fiction & Story

Bring your story to life with a proven plan.

Market Your Book

Learn how to sell more copies.

Edit Your Book

Get professional editing support.

Author Advantage Accelerator Nonfiction

Grow your business, authority, and income.

Author Advantage Accelerator Fiction

Become a full-time fiction author.

Author Accelerator Elite

Take the fast-track to publishing success.

Take the Quiz

Let us pair you with the right fit.

Free Copy of Published.

Book title generator, nonfiction outline template, writing software quiz, book royalties calculator.

Learn how to write your book

Learn how to edit your book

Learn how to self-publish your book

Learn how to sell more books

Learn how to grow your business

Learn about self-help books

Learn about nonfiction writing

Learn about fiction writing

How to Get An ISBN Number

A Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing

How Much Do Self-Published Authors Make on Amazon?

Book Template: 9 Free Layouts

How to Write a Book in 12 Steps

The 15 Best Book Writing Software Tools

10 Personification Examples for Writers: What It Is & How to Use It

POSTED ON Aug 29, 2023

Written by Sarah Rexford

Some of your favorite writing likely employs what we call personification, but it can be difficult to understand what that means without seeing personification examples. What is an example of personification, exactly? How do you know when you use this tactic in your writing?

In this article, we provide a list of personification examples for authors so you can take your writing to a whole new level . Personification is a great writing tool and can be used to add dynamics to a scene that otherwise would simply not exist. 

Like most writing rules, personification should be used with discretion. Everything in moderation, right? So first, let’s start with some examples, then dive into the definition, and lastly, end with a step by step guide. 

Need A Fiction Book Outline?

Personification examples and tips:

What is personification.

Personification is when you emphasize a non-human’s characteristics by describing them with human attributes.

• She loved little boy
• The tree was happy
• A new and energetic wind

Personification, when used in specific instances, can help make non-human nouns (for instance, a tree), act like a human and come to life. 

Have you ever felt the grip of cold? The bite of wind? The caress of a warm, gentle wave on the shore? These are personification examples in writing. 

When it comes to personification examples for authors specifically, consider this: Every writer and reader knows and understands the human experience personally. What better way to create a connection between the story and those reading it than to employ what we all connect with most—humanity?  Now that you have a basic understanding of what personification is, what is an example of personification? Let's go over a list of 10 personification examples that will help you form a better understanding of this literary device .

10 personification examples for authors

Below is a list of personification examples for authors that you may or may not easily pick up on. However, it’s important to provide you with a few examples prior to a definition so you can pick up on a few areas: how easily it can blend in, how it helps the setting come alive, and how it’s been done.

1. The Giving Tree , Shel Silverstein

“Once there was a tree

And she loved little boy.

And every day the boy would come

And he would gather her leaves

And make them into crowns and play king of the forest.

And the tree was happy.

But time went by,

And the boy grew older.

And the tree was often alone.”

The Giving Tree is one of the most popular personification examples. The tree experiences love, happiness, and loneliness, giving it human qualities.

2. A Separate Peace, John Knowles

“Peace had deserted Devon. Although not in the look of the campus and village; they retained much of their dreaming summer calm. Fall had barely touched the full splendor of the trees, and during the height of the day the sun briefly regained its summertime power. In the air there was only an edge of coolness to imply the coming winter. But all had been caught up, like the first fallen leaves, by a new and energetic wind.”

In A Separate Peace , peace deserts, fall touches, and the wind is energetic. There are so many personification examples in this one quote alone, and many more within the full novel.

3. The Tell-Tale Heart , Edgar Allen Poe

“Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim.”

The Tell-Tale Heart is a wonderful example of personification in writing. Death is made into a character in its own right, and it stalks and moves like only a human can.

4. The Handmaid's Tale , Margaret Atwood

“There is something subversive about this garden of Serena’s, a sense of buried things bursting upwards, wordlessly, into the light, as if to point, to say: Whatever is silenced will clamour to be heard, though silently. […] Light pours down upon it from the sun, true, but also heat rises, from the flowers themselves, you can feel it: like holding your hand an inch above an arm, a shoulder. It breathes, in the warmth, breathing itself in.”

In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale we get plenty of personification examples. In the quote above, the garden breathes and is subversive, qualities no garden can truly have.

5. Flight , John Steinbeck

“Five-fingered ferns hung over the water and dropped spray from their fingertips.”

Steinbeck's short story Flight gives five-finger ferns actual fingertips – and gives them human actions that personify the plants.

6. Romeo and Juliet , William Shakespeare

“Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.”

Yes, even Shakespeare used personification! In Romeo's famous speech, the sun is fair and the moon is envious and grieving.

7. Their Eyes Were Watching God , Zora Neale Hurston

“Death, that strange being with the huge square toes who lived way in the West. The great one who lived in the straight house like a platform without sides to it, and without a roof. What need has Death for a cover, and what winds can blow against him? He stands in his high house that overlooks the world. Stands watchful and motionless all days with his sword drawn back, waiting for the messenger to bid him come.”

Here is another example where death is personified. In Their Eyes Were Watching God , death is a being with toes and a house of its own.

8. The Old Man and the Sea , Ernest Hemingway

“But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought.”

In The Old Man and the Sea , Hemingway describes the ocean as if it were a person: feminine, wicked, and withholding, making this novel the perfect example of personification.

9. The Haunting of Hill House , Shirley Jackson

“Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”

The Haunting of Hill House is a perfect example of personification in literature. Shirley Jackson makes Hill House feel alive and sinister through the use of personification, saying the house is insane and is standing in wait.

10. Paul Revere's Ride , Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“In their night-encampment on the hill, Wrapped in silence so deep and still That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread, The watchful night-wind, as it went Creeping along from tent to tent, And seeming to whisper, ‘All is well!'”

In Paul Revere's Ride , Longfellow makes the wind whisper, watch, and creep – using personification to add an enveloping atmosphere to his words.

Now that you've seen some personification examples in literature, let's talk about how you can use personification in your own writing.

Using personification examples in different genres

To help get you thinking, it’s important to include personification examples in various book genres . What is an example of personification in horror ?

“The poison snuck along the floor, crawling closer as it dripped from above.”

How about an example of personification in romance ?

“The ring flirted with the sunlight, sending sparks of joy in every direction.”  What about a dystopian sci-fi novel?

“This close to the city, oppression hung in the air. People walked with their hands over their mouths, as if attempting to keep the smog from gripping their lungs.”

Whether you write horror, romance, or dystopian fiction, personification acts as an aid in bringing your setting to life. It’s not just people who can sing, dance, mourn, laugh, sneak, and yell. 

Words can sing. Wind can dance. Rain can mourn. Waves can laugh. Vines can sneak. Thunder can yell. But how should you employ these personification examples in your own writing?

Tips for using personification

Here are our top tips for using personification:

Focus on one sense

To begin, choose what you want to come to life. Let’s say your setting is Antarctica, and your protagonist is a man with his dog sled attempting to scout the land. If you’ve ever watched Against The Ice , images likely filled your mind as you read this. 

However, try reading the book . Notice where Ejnar Mikkelsen uses personification, or could use it. Could the ice be a sleeping giant? Could the whip of the wind be a cruel villain? Focus on one aspect such as the following:

Next, pair one of the senses with the setting. 

• Touch of freezing water
• Taste of falling snow
• Smell of desolation 
• Hearing the creak of ice
• Seeing the blinding sun

Finally, add a touch of humanity.

• The water had an icy grip.
• Ice creaked, old joints trying to stand. 
• The air smelled desolate, as if trying to camouflage itself from the explorers.

Alright, now on to step two. 

Study non-verbals

I’m still surprised how much studying communication in undergrad prepared me to be a writer. Nonverbal communication is the one type of communication we can never refuse.

Studying the art of nonverbal communication can greatly enhance your mastery of personification. 

• People communicate 24/7, whether they realize it or not, which means…
• Your characters are always communicating, which means…
• You can always employ nonverbal personification.

Have fun playing around with it and see what you come up with!

Don’t go overboard 

With personification, less is often more. Consider the following two examples:

• The icy water gripped his shoulders, forcing him under, wrapping around him in a stiff hug, and punching the breath from his lungs. 
• Icy water punched the breath from his lungs.

Today’s writers are often encouraged to use less description and leave the rest up to the reader. Too much detail and you risk losing your readers as they try to visualize every detail, rather than fill in the blanks for themselves. 

Let your writing leap forward

Now that you have seen quite a few personification examples and tips for using them it’s time to dive into your own writing. To start out easy, try adding one element of personification to the below examples:

• Rain splatted the pavement.
• Sun filled the living room.
• He heard thunder overhead.

How did you do? If it feels awkward at first, that means you’re learning what works and what doesn’t. Embrace the discomfort and keep trying with different personification examples.  

But now it’s time to get back to your work-in-progress. You learned how to use another writing rule and now it’s time to execute your newfound knowledge. Ask yourself the following questions as you get back to your manuscript :

• Where could personification make my story come alive?
• Where would personification distract from my story?
• How can I ensure I use personification just enough, and not too much?

Remember, all writing needs editing , so don’t worry about your first tries. Go all in. You can always edit out some of your personification examples later, but the practice will be worth it. Enjoy the process!

FREE BOOK OUTLINE TEMPLATE

100% Customizable For Your Manuscript.

Related posts

The best 15 christian books for women to read right now.

Fiction, Writing

How to Write Dark Romance Books: Defining This Alluring Genre

How to write a book about yourself in 11 easy steps (includes publishing).

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

FREE Poetry Worksheet Bundle! Perfect for National Poetry Month.

50+ Engaging Personification Examples That Bring Writing To Life

This literary device adds meaning.

Strong writers use literary devices like personification to make their writing more vivid and engaging. Learn the definition of personification, plus find lots of engaging personification examples to share with your students.

What is personification?

Personification is a literary device, a technique authors use to add meaning to their writing. Put simply, writers use personification when they give human characteristics to non-human animals or objects. In other words, an author describes a non-human object as doing something human.

• Example: “The babbling brook meandered alongside the path, skipping and jumping over the rocks.”

In this example, the author doesn’t literally mean the brook babbles, meanders, skips, or jumps. Instead, they use these human activities to make the sounds and actions of the brook more clear to the reader.

Personification vs. Anthropomorphism

These two literary devices are sometimes confused, but they have different meanings. When an author uses anthropomorphism, they have a non-human character literally act in human ways, such as talking animals.

• Personification example: My dog cried mournfully as I left, begging me not to leave him alone for the day.
• Anthropomorphism example: “Don’t go,” sobbed Rex, tears running down his furry nose. “I can’t bear to be alone all day long!”

In the first example—personification—the dog displays human-like behavior but does not literally cry, beg, or speak. In the second—anthropomorphism—the dog does literally cry and talk. Anthropomorphism is common in children’s books and fairy tales, while personification can appear in any kind of writing, including nonfiction.

Importance of Personification

Writers use personification to bring life and meaning to their writing. By associating a description with something human and familiar, they make it easier for their reader to relate to it. When an author gives an object human characteristics, like a “screaming alarm clock” or a “murmuring breeze,” their writing becomes more engaging.

We’ve all had days where we feel like computers “hate” us, or our alarm clock is “scolding” us until we get out of bed. When authors use this type of personification, we can immediately understand the feelings and emotions they’re trying to convey. The setting and atmosphere become clearer, helping us understand human characters a little better.

General Personification Examples

• The flowers danced in the breeze.
• A soft breeze tickled her cheek.
• That hot fudge sundae is really calling my name.
• The sun smiled down on us as we picnicked in the park.
• Time flies when you’re having fun.
• The old stairs groaned with each step he took.
• After a long day, my soft bed beckoned me with open arms.
• Moonlight caressed the water’s surface, glinting on each tiny wave.
• The storm raged ashore, destroying all that lie before it.
• The mountains stood tall and proud, guarding the valley below.
• The suspicious security cam followed her every move, determined to catch her in the act.
• Hungry waves ate away at the shoreline.
• After many false starts, the car’s engine finally coughed to life.
• Dark clouds gathered in the sky, plotting their attack on the land below.
• The typewriter keys jumped and jigged beneath his flying fingers.
• The sweet aroma of freshly baked cookies wooed them all into the kitchen.
• Dawn stretched itself across the landscape, embracing the dew-laden flowers.
• Overhead, the leaves whispered softly in the wind.
• Doubts attacked him left and right as he tried to make a decision.
• The fog crept slowly over the ground, sneaking its way into every hollow.

Personification Examples From Literature

• “There is something subversive about this garden of Serena’s. … It breathes, in the warmth, breathing itself in.” – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• “A waft of wind came sweeping down the laurel-walk, and trembled through the boughs of the chestnut: it wandered away—away—to an indefinite distance—it died.” – Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• “All in vain; because Death, in approaching him, had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim.” – The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
• “The ship danced over the waves, eager to return to Ithaca.” – The Odyssey by Homer
• “The windmill loomed over the farm, its blades turning with a relentless determination …” – Animal Farm by George Orwell
• “The fire’s fingers reached out, devouring the pages of the forbidden books.” – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• “The moors sighed with the weight of the secrets they held, whispering tales of love and revenge.” – Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• “The sun persists in rising, so I make myself stand.” – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon / Who is already sick and pale with grief …” – Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
• “The Triwizard Cup is waiting. It is waiting for you.” – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Personification Examples From Poetry

• “Because I could not stop for Death – / He kindly stopped for me – / The Carriage held but just Ourselves – / And Immortality.” – Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson
• “I wandered lonely as a cloud …” – Daffodils by William Wordsworth
• “The moon was shining sulkily / Because she thought the sun / Had got no business to be there / After the day was done.” – The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll
• “Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat, / Sighing, through all her works, gave signs of woe.” – Paradise Lost by John Milton
• “The aspens at the cross-roads talk together / Of rain …” – Aspens by Edward Thomas
• “And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain / Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before.” – The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
• “The troubled sky reveals / The grief it feels.” – Snow-Flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• “Eight balloons no one was buyin’ / All broke loose one afternoon. / Eight balloons with strings a-flyin’, / Free to do what they wanted to.” – Eight Balloons by Shel Silverstein
• “The little white clouds are racing over the sky …” – Magdalen Walks by Oscar Wilde
• “The fog comes / on little cat feet. / It sits looking / over harbor and city / on silent haunches / and then moves on.” – Fog by Carl Sandburg

Song Lyrics Personification Examples

• “You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes.” – Thriller by Michael Jackson
• “And so today, my world it smiles.” – Thank You by Led Zeppelin
• “I want to wake up in a city / That doesn’t sleep.” – New York, New York by John Kander and Fred Ebb
• “Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.” – Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Green Day
• “They reach into your room, oh, just feel their gentle touch. / When all hope is gone, sad songs say so much.” – Sad Songs by Elton John
• “The highway don’t care if you’re all alone.” – Highway Don’t Care by Tim McGraw
• “And the saddest fear comes creeping in …” – I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift
• “The high yellow moon won’t come out to play.” – Concrete Jungle by Bob Marley
• “A shining new era is tiptoeing nearer …” – Be Prepared from The Lion King
• “Here comes the sun.” – Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles

How do you teach personification in your classroom? Come share your ideas in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, appealing alliteration examples (plus teaching ideas) ..

You Might Also Like

55+ Metaphor Examples, Plus Clever Ideas To Teach Them

A metaphor is a hidden key. Continue Reading

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256

Personification: What Is It and How to Use It in Your Writing

So, what is personification?

Personification is a really interesting part of language. It's a type of figurative language where non-human things are described as if they were human. This approach gives human qualities to objects or ideas, which can make what you're reading more relatable and vivid.

In this post, we'll cover what personification is all about, including some familiar personification examples from literature, movies, and even a few examples of the phrases we use in daily conversation. Grasping how and why personification is used can be a great tool in your writing toolkit, whether you're aiming to be a better writer or a screenwriter. It's all about making your storytelling more engaging and relatable!

What is personification?

Personification is all about giving human characteristics to non-human things. It's a common writing technique in the arts, where we often see things like virtues, sins, or even concepts like life and death taking on human forms. Cities, countries, and even corporations can be personified, described with human-like qualities to make them more relatable.

As a literary device, it's not just a splash of vivid description; it can also breathe life into non-human characters. It's one of the many types of figurative language, like synecdoche, hyperbole, and simile, which work at the idea level. This is different from other literary tools like alliteration or onomatopoeia, which are more about the sound of language.

Let's look at an example:

Simile: "This item looks like it has your name on it." This means something seems perfect for you, as if it were made just for you.

Personification: "This item is screaming your name." Here, the item isn’t literally screaming, but it's described as if it can call out to you, just like a person would.

In writing, personification can create a vivid image in the reader's mind, but it needs to be believable. If the metaphor stretches too far and the reader can't relate, it loses its effect. The same goes for film – if an inanimate object suddenly comes to life, it's more convincing if this happens early in the story, helping viewers suspend disbelief and get absorbed in the narrative.

The Shortcut to Effective Storyboards.

Boords is an easy-to-use storyboarding tool to plan creative projects.

Why use personification in writing?

If you think personification is just for children's stories or animated films, think again! It's a powerful literary device for all kinds of creative work. Here's why it's such a great addition to your writing toolkit:

Natural Connection: Personification taps into our human tendency to see human characteristics in non-human things. Readers often find it natural and intuitive, making it easier for them to connect with your story.

Emotional Engagement: When you give human qualities to non-human inanimate objects, readers can empathize with it. This deepens their emotional connection to the story and the characters' feelings towards that object.

Illustrating Relationships: You can use personification to show how a character relates to an object, an animal, or even an abstract concept. It's a great way to express these relationships through dialogue and actions, adding depth to your characters.

Dynamic Storytelling: Just like any relationship, the one between your characters and personified elements can evolve. This allows you to highlight the changing importance or role of these elements in your story.

Enhancing Descriptions: Personification is a step up from similes, which often compare things to others. Personification brings your descriptions to life, creating a more immersive experience for the reader.

Efficient Writing: Especially for screenwriters, who need to be concise, personification can be a game-changer. While not always the shortest form of metaphor, its ability to explain concepts and quickly evoke emotional responses makes it incredibly effective for engaging readers or viewers.

Get your FREE Filmmaking Storyboard Template Bundle

Plan your film with 10 professionally designed storyboard templates as ready-to-use PDFs.

Examples of personification

Let's explore a few personification examples across different creative mediums!

Personification in film

Animated films are a playground for personification. Take Disney and Pixar movies, for instance, which are full of famous examples of personification. Think about Zootopia with its entire society of animals acting just like humans, or the lovable creatures in The Jungle Book .

But it's not just animals that get the human treatment. In Frozen , we see Olaf the snowman playing a role that is typically human. Beauty and the Beast takes this a step further with a talking clock, teapot, and candelabra engaging in human-like conversations. And let's not forget the Toy Story series, where toys lead secret lives and have adventures of their own.

In Moana , the sea and nature themselves are personified. The sea acts like a protective guardian, while nature sometimes comes across as a stern mother figure. And in Inside Out , human emotions take center stage as characters like Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust vividly portray what's happening inside a child's mind.

These examples show how this type of figurative language can breathe life into non-human characters, making stories more engaging and relatable.

Personification in screenwriting

In screenwriting, personification is a great way to show a character's connection to objects or their emotional state, like in Cast Away with Wilson the volleyball. It's important for this to fit the character and plot, so it doesn't feel forced.

Personification can also bring your script to life. Instead of plain descriptions, use personification to make scenes more dynamic:

This approach helps avoid passive language and keeps your script vibrant.

Just be clear with your intentions. If you write "The walls are closing in," make sure it's clear whether it's literal or a metaphor for anxiety. You might say "The walls seem to close in" and use visual cues to convey the feeling. This way, personification not only enhances your script but also guides the visual storytelling.

Personification in literature

Personification brings a unique flair to literature. In Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro , death takes on a tangible form as a prowling hyena and an ominous visitor, vividly capturing the protagonist's sense of mortality.

William Shakespeare was also a master of personification. In plays like Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream , he personifies celestial bodies with human attributes, referring to the moon as a "watery eye" or stars as "entreating." Juliet’s line, "Come, gentle night," is a classic example of asking the night or day to come or stay.

These examples highlight how personification can add depth and emotion to storytelling. In screenwriting, similar techniques can suggest visual cues, like describing a boat "cowering before towering clouds" to imply its vulnerability, guiding the camera work.

Personification in common language

Personification sneaks into our everyday language more often than we might realize. It’s our natural way of adding human traits to inanimate objects. For example, we might call a stuck drawer 'stubborn', say a car 'eats' miles, that the wind 'howled' or that the sun is 'hiding' behind clouds. It's a simple yet imaginative way we spice up our daily conversations.

Sometimes, idioms incorporate personification too. Take 'life handing you lemons' – it’s as if life, an abstract concept, is performing a human action. Or 'the pot calling the kettle black', where kitchen items seem to be having a conversation.

These examples highlight how personification and idioms add color and creativity to our everyday speech, showcasing our innate flair for expressive language.

Improve your writing with personification

Your use of personification depends on your unique style. It's up to you how much you incorporate. Just be careful not to force it. If it doesn't fit naturally with your writing style, it might throw your readers off.

When employing personification, think about what you're trying to convey. Does the figurative language enhance your message? Does it suit your or your character's voice? Consider how your words might be interpreted literally. Being mindful of these aspects can help you use personification effectively, making your writing more engaging and vivid.

Related links

More from the blog..., hyperbole: what is it and how to use it in your writing.

Hyperbole uses figurative language to make an overstatement, to create emphasis and can be used for comic effect, to create vivid images, or to convey intensity or emotion.

What is a Euphemism? Definition & Examples

A euphemism is an indirect expression to avoid a direct reference or a straightforward term. It's commonly to be polite rather than blunt, to soften the blow or to downplay an issue.

The 12 Character Archetypes

In blockbuster films and best-selling books, there are certain types of characters that appear repeatedly. They're known as character archetypes.

Online storyboarding software

The Shortcut to Effective Storyboards

Boords is the modern storyboarding tool that helps video professionals create client-ready storyboards 10x faster.

Personification

Personification Definition

What is personification? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Personification is a type of figurative language in which non-human things are described as having human attributes, as in the sentence, "The rain poured down on the wedding guests, indifferent to their plans." Describing the rain as "indifferent" is an example of personification, because rain can't be "indifferent," nor can it feel any other human emotion. However, saying that the rain feels indifferent poetically emphasizes the cruel timing of the rain. Personification can help writers to create more vivid descriptions, to make readers see the world in new ways, and to more powerfully capture the human experience of the world (since people really do often interpret the non-human entities of the world as having human traits).

Some additional key details about personification:

• Personification isn't exclusive to the use of human attributes to describe non-human things. If a writer describes a non-human thing as performing a human action, the writer is personifying that thing. The sentence, "The rain mocked the wedding guests' plans," qualifies as personification just as much as the sentence, "The rain was indifferent," does.
• The word "personification" has another, separate meaning from its function as a literary device. The word can also be used to indicate that someone embodies a certain quality or concept. For instance, some people think that the Queen of England is the personification— or the embodiment—of civility. However, this guide focuses only on personification as a literary device.

Personification Pronunciation

Here's how to pronounce personification: per- sahn -if-ick-ay-shun

Personification Explained

Personification is a powerful and widely-used literary tool for several reasons. One reason is that it allows readers to develop a greater sense of relation to and identification with non-human entities. Attributing a human emotion to something inanimate—as in the sentence about "indifferent rain"—can make that thing easier to understand and more vivid in the reader's imagination, while at the same time presenting a significantly more complex description than is possible with the use of traditional adjectives like "wet" or "gray".

Personifying a Non-Human Thing as a Complete Person

Personification typically involves bestowing a single human quality upon a non-human thing. For instance:

• The rain was indifferent to their plans.
• The waves winked in the sunlight.
• The wind played hide-and-go-seek among the trees.

However, sometimes personification involves referring to a non-human thing as a complete person with many human qualities. Consider the way in which old-fashioned ship captains referred to their vessels as "she," or the way in which Kanye West refers to his beloved city of Chicago as a girl named "Windy." (Scroll down to "Personification in Music" for an analysis of those lyrics.) Both cases count as personification—Kanye asks us to momentarily re-imagine something nonhuman (Chicago) as human, because that way we'll be able to understand that the city has a personality and a soul that make him feel connected to it just as he would feel connected to a romantic partner. Similarly, it was common for sea captains back in the day to casually refer to their ships as "she" in order to convey that they felt as much respect, gratitude, and responsibility for the ships as they would towards a woman they loved.

Personification vs. Anthropomorphism

Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to a non-human entity for the purpose of creating figurative language and imagery . Anthropomorphism , by contrast, is the literal attribution of human characteristics to animals and other non-human things, often for the purpose of creating a specific type of character: a non-human being that behaves like a human. Winnie the Pooh, the Little Engine that Could, and Simba from the movie The Lion King are all examples of anthropomorphism. The human qualities assigned to these characters are not just figurative ways of describing them, as they are in personification. Rather, in anthropomorphism the non-human entities actually do human things like talking, falling in love, wiggling their eyebrows, and generally behaving like people behave.

Winnie the Pooh, the Little Engine that Could, and Simba from The Lion King are not examples of personification. When we use personification, we don't create characters, but instead simply describe non-human things as possessing human characteristics, like in the sentence, "The wind played hide-and-go-seek among the trees." In this case, the wind didn't actually grow arms, legs, and a mouth to count down from twenty. That would be anthropomorphism. Instead, the wind looks and behaves as wind normally does, but through the power of personification the reader can now imagine the wind's movement in a completely new way, because he or she can now compare that movement to the familiar but different movement of playing hide-and-go-seek.

Personification Examples

Examples of personification in literature.

Writers use personification to create startling or whimsical visual images, which help to make the world of a book or poem all the more vivid in a reader's imagination. Often, authors use personification to describe the hidden lives of objects as a way of calling the reader's attention to the underlying mood, conflicts, or themes of the novel—of which even the characters themselves may not be fully aware.

Personification in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse

To the Lighthouse takes place in a summer house on the Isle of Skye, off the coast of Scotland. Part 1 of the book describes an eventful summer that the family spends in the house, while Part 2, "Time Passes," describes the passage of the seasons when the family is away from the house. In this example from Part 2, Chapter 2, Woolf describes the summer house in the family's absence:

Nothing stirred in the drawing-room or in the dining-room or on the staircase. Only through the rusty hinges and swollen sea-moistened woodwork certain airs, detached from the body of the wind (the house was ramshackle after all) crept round corners and ventured indoors. Almost one might imagine them, as they entered the drawing-room questioning and wondering, toying with the flap of hanging wall-paper, asking, would it hang much longer, when would it fall? Then smoothly brushing the walls, they passed on musingly as if asking the red and yellow roses on the wall-paper whether they would fade, and questioning (gently, for there was time at their disposal) the torn letters in the waste-paper basket, the flowers, the books, all of which were now open to them and asking, Were they allies? Were they enemies? How long would they endure?

In this passage, Woolf personifies the wind by describing it as though it were a person who, "questioning and wondering," ventures through rooms and creeps around corners, inspecting the family's possessions and "toying with" them. Woolf could easily have written a more straightforward description of the house and the items within it. However, through the use of personification she allows the reader to identify with the wind, and in doing so to discover or "venture into" the empty house as the wind does here, "musingly" and curiously.

Personification in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea is the story of an unlucky fisherman named Santiago. Santiago has been unable to catch a fish for 84 days, but on the 85th day catches the biggest marlin he has ever seen. Then, on the 86th day, he catches a dolphin (a type of fish; not the ocean mammal) for dinner:

Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin.

Hemingway's personification of the ocean as "making love" both captures the rolling nature of the waves and also speaks to the fact that, after his change of luck, Santiago once again sees the ocean as a "partner" full of vitality and teeming with life.

Personification in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

In the following passage from Act 2, Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet , Romeo sneaks into Juliet's garden and catches a glimpse of her on her balcony:

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. Be not her maid, since she is envious; Her vestal livery is but sick and green And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

Romeo compares Juliet to the sun, and describes the moon as being envious of Juliet's beauty. Romeo's description of the moon as being female—in addition to its having feelings of envy, sickness, and grief—is an example of personification. When he pleads with Juliet, "Be not her maid," he's not only referring to the "jealous moon"—he's also making subtle reference to Diana, the goddess of the moon and virginity (whose devotees wore green). Thus, personifying the moon allows Romeo not only to express his wonder at Juliet's "celestial" beauty, but also to communicate his hope that Juliet isn't too chaste to get involved him.

Personification in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

In Chapter 1 of The Scarlet Letter , Hawthorne describes a wild rose bush that grows in front of Salem's gloomy wooden jail:

But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.

In the context of the novel's setting in 17th century Boston, this rose bush, which grows wild in front of an establishment dedicated to enforcing harsh puritan values, symbolizes those elements of human nature that cannot be repressed, no matter how strict a community's moral code may be: desire, fertility, and a love of beauty. By personifying the rosebush as "offering" its blossoms to reflect Nature's pity (Nature is also personified here as having a "heart"), Hawthorne turns the passive coincidence of the rosebush's location into an image of human nature actively resisting its constraints.

Examples of Personification in Music

Musicians often use personification in their lyrics for the same type of poetic effect that the technique can have in a literary context. However, the musicians who wrote the following songs don’t just give non-human entities human attributes, but actually describe the entities as complete people. This more comprehensive, figurative transformation of a thing—in the case of the following examples, a city or a drug—into a person allows the musicians to partially hide the true identity of what the song describes. In some cases, the musician may want to hide the meaning in order to play with language and with the listener’s expectations. In others, the musician may do so in order to share an experience that isn’t appropriate for a general audience.

Personification in Kanye West's "Homecoming"

"Homecoming" ( Graduation, 2007) is Kanye's ode to his hometown of Chicago, where he moved at the age of three. Instead of praising Chicago directly, West personifies the city by singing about it as though it were a girl named "Windy"—a reference to Chicago's nickname, "The Windy City":

I met this girl when I was 3 years old And what I loved most, she had so much soul She said, "Excuse me, lil homie, I know you don't know me But my name is Windy and I like to blow trees"... And when I grew up, she showed me how to go downtown In the nighttime her face lit up, so astoundin' I told her in my heart is where she'll always be She never messed with entertainers cause they always leave She said, "It felt like they walked and drop on me"

Through the use of personification, Kanye creates an enjoyable experience of discovery for the listener, who may in fact believe that the song is about a real girl named Windy until he or she listens more closely to the lyrics. In this case, the use of personification adds a whole new dimension to the song.

Personification in The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"

Though there is some debate as to the lyrics’ true meaning, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” ( Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967) is widely perceived as a coded reference to LSD: a psychedelic drug that The Beatles experimented with around the time they wrote this song. Assuming that “ L ucy in the S ky with D iamonds” does in fact refer to LSD, it’s an excellent example of personification:

Picture yourself in a boat on a river With tangerine trees and marmalade skies Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly A girl with kaleidoscope eyes Cellophane flowers of yellow and green Towering over your head Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes And she's gone Lucy in the sky with diamonds Lucy in the sky with diamonds Lucy in the sky with diamonds Ahhh

Personification allows the Beatles to describe their LSD-induced hallucinations—which, they asserted openly, were important to their creative process—in a veiled way, so that only listeners who were clued into that particular drug culture could detect the reference.

Why Do Writers Use Personification?

Writers use personification to create memorable images with language, allowing readers to experience works of literature more vividly. Depending on the text, however, a writer may have a more specific purpose for using personification. Consider Bluets, by Maggie Nelson, a book made up of short, numbered vignettes in which the author conducts a poetic form of "field research" on her love for the color blue. In the following lines, Nelson wonders if the color blue can help her combat feelings of loss after a recent break-up:

71. I have been trying, for some time now, to find dignity in my loneliness. I have been finding this hard to do. 72. It is easier, of course, to find dignity in one's solitude. Loneliness is solitude with a problem. Can blue solve the problem, or can it at least keep me company within it? —No, not exactly. It cannot love me that way; it has no arms. But sometimes I do feel its presence to be a sort of wink— Here you are again, it says, and so am I.

Here, Nelson uses the technique of literary personification to accomplish something she wishes she could do in real life: replace her love for her former partner with her love for the color blue. She acknowledges that a reciprocal love between herself and blue is impossible in reality—"blue" is incapable of "keeping [her] company" because "it has no arms," or isn't human. However, immediately after this acknowledgement she personifies blue, writing that she sometimes feels its presence as a "wink" of acknowledgement. Thus, Nelson uses literary personification to make blue acknowledge her in her writing, as in reality only another lover or person can.

Other Helpful Personification Resources

• The Wikipedia Page on Personification: A straightforward explanation with examples.
• The Dictionary Definition of Personification: A basic definition and history of the term. The word personification was first used in the mid 1700s.
• An entertaining video collage about the difference between anthropomorphism and personification.
• A recording of the Beatles rehearsing "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."

• PDFs for all 136 Lit Terms we cover
• Downloads of 1900 LitCharts Lit Guides
• Teacher Editions for every Lit Guide
• Explanations and citation info for 39,983 quotes across 1900 books
• Downloadable (PDF) line-by-line translations of every Shakespeare play
• Anthropomorphism
• Figurative Language
• Deus Ex Machina
• Dramatic Irony
• Epanalepsis
• Dynamic Character
• Flat Character
• Climax (Plot)
• Understatement
• Foreshadowing

Literary Devices

Literary devices, terms, and elements, personification, definition of personification.

As a literary device, personification is the projection of characteristics that normally belong only to humans onto inanimate objects, animals, deities, or forces of nature. These characteristics can include verbs of actions that only humans do or adjectives that describe a human condition. The characteristics can also be emotions, feelings, or motives given to objects incapable of thought. For example, if someone said, “the trees whispered their discontent,” this would personify the trees both as able to whisper and of feeling unhappy. Personification is also sometimes referred to as anthropomorphism when it is used to give human feelings and actions to animals.

Personification can also mean the embodiment of an abstract idea or quality. This definition of personification can extend even to humans. For example, a person can be said to personify the patriotism of his country or the ambition of her company. We could say, “She is the personification of the grit and determination needed to make this start-up work.”

Examples of Personification from Common Speech

We use many examples of personification in every day speech. Some characteristics have become quite common to attribute to certain things, such as the following:

• Justice is blind
• Her heart skipped a beat
• The sun smiled down on them
• The stars winked
• The party died down
• The city never sleeps
• The wind howled
• The iron gates looked down at them cruelly
• The house sighed
• The car sputtered and coughed before starting

Significance of Personification in Literature

Personification and anthropomorphism has been a part of storytelling for thousands of years, evident in Aesop’s Fables and fairy tales from many different cultures. Gods in myths and legends are often given human qualities even though they are distinctly not human. This makes them examples of personification.

Personification has remained popular throughout the centuries, given that it can add aesthetic qualities to a work and provide a way for authors to describe inanimate objects. It also inserts more meaning into the inexplicable things like forces of nature. Often the use of personification also helps to show a character’s own attitudes toward a certain thing if they project or ascribe their own feelings onto an inanimate object.

Anthropomorphism is also still very popular, especially in stories for children and the fable genre . It is also sometimes used in satirical works, such as George Orwell’s Animal Farm , and graphic novels, such as Art Spiegelman’s Maus .

Examples of Personification from Literature

TITANIA: No night is now with hymn or carol blessed. Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, Pale in her anger, washes all the air, That rheumatic diseases do abound.

( A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare)

In this example of personification, Shakespeare uses the concept of the moon as a character. The moon is feminized (as often it is in literature, if given a gender) and said to be a governess of floods. The color of the moon lends to the depiction of “her anger” and she is said to cause more disease to spread due to her displeasure. Shakespeare thus gives the moon new descriptive qualities, emotions, and motivation.

Her heart was divided between concern for her sister, and resentment against all the others.

( Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

In this excerpt from Pride and Prejudice , Jane Austen writes about a heart that feels concern and resentment. The heart in question is of the character Elizabeth. It’s clear that Elizabeth is the one divided between concern for her sister Jane and resentment for the others, yet Austen personifies Elizabeth’s heart to have these feelings to add some poetic sensibility to the sentence.

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun, And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

(“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost)

Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” contains the famous line “Good fences make good neighbors.” This excerpt is from the beginning of the poem, and sets up a contrast between the neighbors who keep fixing the wall between them and the “something” that doesn’t love this wall. Though Frost never specifies what it is that “doesn’t love a wall,” we can take it to mean that nature revolts against artificial separations and borders. Winter cold causes the wall to break in different places, and Frost gives winter the motivation for doing this.

The Western States nervous under the beginning change. Texas and Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona, California. A single family moved from the land. Pa borrowed money from the bank, and now the bank wants the land. The land company–that’s the bank when it has land –wants tractors, not families on the land. Is a tractor bad? Is the power that turns the long furrows wrong? If this tractor were ours it would be good–not mine, but ours. If our tractor turned the long furrows of our land, it would be good. Not my land, but ours. We could love that tractor then as we have loved this land when it was ours. But the tractor does two things–it turns the land and turns us off the land. There is little difference between this tractor and a tank. The people are driven, intimidated, hurt by both. We must think about this.

( The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)

John Steinbeck’s classic The Grapes of Wrath is set during the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. This personification example begins with the “Western States” being nervous. Of course the states themselves did not feel anxiety, but the people in those states started to feel nervous about the diminishing returns from the land. Bankers started repossessing land, and thus Steinbeck personifies the banks to want the land.

When death comes like the hungry bear in autumn; when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse to buy me, and snaps the purse shut… I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering: what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

(“When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver)

Mary Oliver’s poem “When Death Comes” uses several different ways to describe death. She begins here with the image of death as a hungry bear. Then Oliver gives death the human characteristics of having money and wanting to make a purchase, thereby personifying it. Thus death is full of desire in this poem. Oliver uses this concept to contrast her own desire to live her life as fully as possible before death comes for her.

But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.

( The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)

In this excerpt from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter , there is a juxtaposition between the wild rose-bush and its location, namely the prison. The rose-bush is “delicate” and has “fragile beauty,” whereas the “condemned criminal” is going “forth to his doom.” Hawthorne uses personification to say that the rose-bush offers its fragrance, and thus a measure of its innocence, to the prisoner. He goes on to personify Nature as full of both kindness and pity.

Test Your Knowledge of Personification

1. Choose the correct personification definition:

A. The act of literally making something human. B. A person who strives to be the best he or she can be. C. A literary device which gives human qualities to nonhuman things.

2. Which of these lines from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 contains personification?

A. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? B. Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade… C. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see…

3. Which of the parts of this excerpt from Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese” make it an example of personification?

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination

A. Whoever you are B. No matter how lonely C. The world offers itself D. To your imagination

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 10 personification examples in poetry, literature, and more.

General Education

Personification is an important literary device —as a form of metaphor, personification compares two things quickly and efficiently, often in a poetic fashion. But what is it?

In this guide, we’ll discuss what personification is, what it does, and why so many writers use it, as well as a whole bunch of examples to help you get accustomed to identifying personification when you see it.

What Is Personification?

Personification is pretty simple, but before we can get into what it is, we need to discuss metaphors.

Personification is a form of metaphor, a literary device comparing two things by applying the qualities of one thing to another. One famous example is the Walt Whitman line, “And your very flesh shall be a great poem.” Whitman isn’t suggesting that your flesh is literally a poem—that would be both impossible and uncomfortable—but rather that your entire self is a work of art. Within the context of the Leaves of Grass preface, where this quote comes from, the quote means that, through love and patience and living with meaning and purpose, your entire self will have meaning and purpose, just as a poem does.

Though Whitman’s quote is a metaphor, it’s not personification. Personification is a more specific type of metaphor in which something that is not human is given human traits. Whitman’s quote compares flesh, something human, to a poem, something inhuman, meaning it’s not personification.

Instead, personification will look something like this quote from John Keats’ “To Autumn”:

“Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run.”

Here, the thing doing the conspiring is autumn, and ‘him’ is the maturing sun. Neither of these things can conspire—autumn is a season, and the sun is a star—but for the purpose of illustrating how perfect the season is, Keats suggests that they can.

In this example, Keats gives both autumn and the sun the human ability to conspire. That doesn’t mean that Keats wants you to picture the sun and autumn literally whispering in one another’s ears; he’s suggesting harmony and a natural order of things. As the sun matures (another thing it isn’t technically doing, at least not in this poem) into the later stages of the year, the fruit on the vines begins to ripen just in time for the harvest. As the sun moves further from the earth and the weather grows colder, the season switches to autumn, as if the two were consciously working together. Hence, the idea of conspiring.

As you can see, personification can add a dramatic and more evocative flair to writing. If Keats’ poem had simply read, “The sun gets further away from the earth as the season changes to autumn, just in time for the fruit to ripen,” it wouldn't feel particularly inspiring or interesting. But when he suggests that the sun and autumn are conspiring, we get a much more vivid, memorable picture of what the seasons are like.

Examples of Personification

Keats is just one writer using personification—there are lots of different ways to use this literary device to great effect. You don’t even need to be world-renowned Romantic poet to use it!

Basic Examples of Personification

Since personification is just giving something that isn’t human the characteristics of a human, it’s very simple to do! Check out these examples:

The stars winked in the night sky.

Stars, having no eyes, cannot wink. But when you see this phrase, you know that they’re twinkling.

The bridge stretched over the interstate.

A bridge can’t stretch, but from this phrase, we get the mental image of it being long and gracefully curved.

The cave mouth yawned .

A mouth can yawn, but a cave mouth cannot. Still, we get the mental image of the cave mouth stretched wide.

The smell of baking muffins welcomed us inside.

A smell can’t welcome, but we can still understand that the narrator of this sentence feels welcomed by the homey smell.

Poetry Examples of Personification

We often encounter figurative language like personification in poetry, where a few words have to carry a lot of meaning. Some of the most famous examples in poetry are:

“Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves –   And Immortality.” - “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson

In this poem, Death is personified as a person driving a carriage. Within the confines of this poem, Death may in fact be a person; but Dickinson isn’t writing about a literal event that happened to her. She’s using her relationship with Death figuratively, illustrating how Death goes about its business with little regard for humanity’s work and leisure.

“Blackberries Big as the ball of my thumb, and dumb as eyes Ebon in the hedges, fat With blue-red juices. These they squander on my fingers. I had not asked for such a blood sisterhood; they must love me. They accommodate themselves to my milkbottle, flattening their sides.” - “Blackberrying” by Sylvia Plath

Plath makes a direct comparison between blackberries and humans—she says blackberries, like eyes, are 'dumb,' in that they cannot speak. But we also know that they can’t squander, they can’t be a sisterhood, and they can’t love or accommodate themselves. Plath isn’t trying to tell us that these are magic blackberries with all those traits. She’s using personification to illustrate her relationship with these blackberries, demonstrating a unique bond with them. Even without the context of the whole poem, Plath’s use of personification shows us that these blackberries aren’t just fruit to her.

Literary Examples of Personification

Poets aren’t the only writers using personification—it’s also valuable for prose writers! Check out these famous examples from literature:

“[The eyes of TJ Eckleburg] look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground…. " - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

If these eyes were attached to a human being, they might brood as an extension of the human. But the eyes of TJ Eckleburg are painted on a billboard, not attached to a human face. It’s impossible for them to brood, as they don’t have emotions. However, this quote demonstrates the mood that the eyes cast over the valley; it’s dark and dreary, and the way that Fitzgerald characterizes these painted eyes reflects that.

"There is something subversive about this garden of Serena’s, a sense of buried things bursting upwards, wordlessly, into the light, as if to point, to say: Whatever is silenced will clamour to be heard, though silently. […] Light pours down upon it from the sun, true, but also heat rises, from the flowers themselves, you can feel it: like holding your hand an inch above an arm, a shoulder. It breathes, in the warmth, breathing itself in."   - The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

This paragraph has a couple of instances of personification. Buried things don’t really burst upward—they grow, but to ‘burst’ is to move suddenly, which is something that these plants don’t do. Likewise, Atwood says that the heat breathes. Because heat doesn’t have lungs, it can’t breathe, but it’s clear that Atwood is giving everything in Serena’s garden a sense of life so that even the heat has vitality.

Pop Culture Examples of Personification

You don’t have to look to books you’ve read in school to find personification, either! Everything from TV shows to music to video games can contain personification, such as these examples:

Though everything that happens in the movie Inside Out can be read to be happening literally—it’s a fantasy movie!—it’s also a form of metaphor. We know that in real life our emotions aren’t little humanoid figures running around pulling levers, but giving emotions like joy and sadness human characteristics encourages viewers to appreciate their complexity. Sadness isn’t bad, and joy isn’t always good—when we give them human traits, we see that any emotion can mean multiple things!

"You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes You're paralyzed 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike." - "Thriller" by Michael Jackson

There are a few examples of personification in this song—in just this verse, terror "takes the sound" and horror "looks you right between the eyes." Logically, we know that emotions can't take or look at anything. But using that kind of language to describe fear gives it an agency that infuses this song with energy. It's not difficult to understand why this works so well; if you've ever been afraid, you know how it can affect the way your body feels, sometimes paralyzing you. That's what Jackson is tapping into in this song: the sense that fear can trap you and make you feel like you're out of control.

What’s Next?

Personification is just one of many literary devices at your disposal. Check out this list of literary devices and how they're used for a whole bunch more!

Want to know more about how the Valley of Ashes is constructed in The Great Gatsby ? Learn more from this post all about how the Valley of Ashes works as a symbol !

Understanding how personification works can help you in AP literature— just like this reading list for AP lit students !

What kind of man so likes being described by his mother as the personification of "the beast" that he adopts it as his own nickname? Learn more about the strange life and times of Aleister Crowley with this article .

Melissa Brinks graduated from the University of Washington in 2014 with a Bachelor's in English with a creative writing emphasis. She has spent several years tutoring K-12 students in many subjects, including in SAT prep, to help them prepare for their college education.

Student and Parent Forum

Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com , allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Improve With Our Famous Guides

• For All Students

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here:

GRE Online Prep Blog

GMAT Online Prep Blog

TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

What is Personification? Definition and Examples of Personification in Writing

Home » The Writer’s Dictionary » What is Personification? Definition and Examples of Personification in Writing

Personification Definition: Personification is a literary device that gives humanlike characteristics to non-human entities. Personification is a type of figurative language.

What Does Personification Mean?

What is the definition of personification? Personification occurs when a writer makes a non-human thing have human behavior. Hence, the writer person ifies that object.

Figurative language is any word or phrase that is not to be taken literally but is used in writing for effect.

Personification Example

• The wind danced in the trees.

• The ocean sang a mesmerizing song.

This example uses personification to provide sensory language for the sound the ocean makes. The ocean cannot literally sing, as a human can. Therefore, the phrase is figurative and the ocean is personified.

• The windows trembled with fear.

This example uses personification to provide mood and imagery for the movement and sound the windows make. The windows cannot literally tremble, as a human can. Therefore, the phrase is figurative and the windows are personified.

Modern Examples of Personification

Personification Examples in Everyday Language

• New York is the city that never sleeps.

This example uses personification to imply that New York is constantly a bustling city. The city cannot literally sleep, nor can the city be awake, like a human can. However, this common phrase is accepted to mean that New York is a lively, energetic city, day or night.

Personification Examples in Music

• “Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go” from “Good Riddance” by Green Day

This example uses personification to imply that time can grab you, pull you, and direct you. Time is not a human but is personified to act like a human in these lyrics.

Personification Examples in News Stories

You see examples of personification in financial settings and news stories quite often. “Stocks hurt today,” “The market fought to secure its gain,” etc. Here is a common example from Market Watch using oil prices,

• Crude oil prices struggled on Monday, at times rising on hopes that a fall in U.S. oil rigs would ease excess supply while stronger consumer spending in that country would spark demand for oil. – Market Watch

The Importance and Function of Personification

Personification makes literature and writing more engaging and more interesting. In many cases, it brings life to abstract object or ideas. For example, in the above example, time is given human qualities and, therefore, brings this abstract concept to life.

Personification is used to enhance writing and to emphasize a point. It is much more powerful to say,

• The wind danced in the trees

than it is to say,

• The wind moved through the trees and made the leaves move around softly.

Like all literary devices, writers use personification with purpose and meaning.

Examples of Personification in Literature

Perhaps one of the most well-knows uses of personification in literature includes Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Because I could not stop for Death”. Below is an excerpt.

Personification Examples in Poetry

Because I could not stop for Death—

He kindly stopped for me—

The Carriage held but just Ourselves—

And Immortality.

We slowly drove—He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility.

This poem refers to “Death” as if he were a person, able to function as a human. Dickinson utilized personification to communicate the speaker’s feelings and emotions surrounding the idea of death.

What Does Personified Mean?

Personified Definition: Personified is the action of thinking or representing inanimate objects or abstraction as having personality, thought, or qualities of living, human beings.

Something that is personified is an example of personification. Personified is nothing more than the verb form of personification.

What is personification? Personification is an effective literary device used to enhance writing.

When a writer personifies an object, he gives it figurative, humanlike qualities in order to create a particular effect.

Improve your writing in one of the largest and most successful writing groups online

Join our writing community!

What Is Personification? Definition and Examples from Literature

by Fija Callaghan

Personification may sound like something left behind from the Romantic era of poetry or the work of William Shakespeare, but it’s actually present in almost all contemporary literature, and even in our everyday speech. You’ve probably used personification in your own writing without realizing it. As a literary device, personification can be used to truly bring your story to life—and in subtler ways than you might think.

Let’s break things down with the personification definition and a few famous examples from beloved literary work. Before you know it, you’ll see all your favorite stories come to life in ways you’d never expect.

What is personification?

Personification is a literary device that assigns traditionally human attributes to nonhuman things, such as household objects or elements of the natural world. Rather than imbuing functional human agency into these things, personification uses figurative language to illustrate a certain moment in a fresh and unexpected way.

When we personify an inanimate object or an abstract concept, that means that we’re writing description about the the object using the same terms that we might use to describe a human. In other words, we’ve “made it a person.”

For example, you might say that the electricity bill “glared at her accusingly,” or the wind “gnashed its teeth against the window.” We’re not expected to take these images literally—they won’t think that the electricity bill has suddenly grown eyes á la that creepy book in Hocus Pocus , or that the wind is actually a vengeful spirit with disconcertingly sharp fangs. They understand that these are vibrant, colorful ways to portray a deceptively simple idea.

Abstract concepts like nations or emotions can also be given human qualities to personify them. The Status of Liberty is often considered a personification of the United States, while we might say that the emotion of sadness is like a lonely man hunched in a dark corner.

Literature is full of personification. We’ll look at a few more personification examples down below.

Why use personification in a story?

As a literary device used by writers, personification adds layers of meaning to a story. Let’s look at why writers use personification in their writing.

1. Illustrate setting

Personification is an excellent writing tool for establishing the setting of a story . If your character is starting a new school, for instance, some examples of personification might be “the walls leered down at them,” or “the iron gates loomed menacingly” at the entrance.

These personified images communicate something new and more complex than simply describing the grey doors and empty walls of a nondescript building.

Using personification gives the reader a broader view of where the story takes place . Notice how the personification examples above didn’t actually communicate any hard details about the setting—the rust on the hinges of the doors, the yellowing flyers stuck to the walls, etc. Instead, giving human characteristics to inanimate objects illustrates the relationship between the character and the setting, and showed the reader hints of where they can expect this relationship to go.

2. Enhance imagery

A writer’s word choice when writing personification can lend entirely different moods and tones to the imagery of a story . Careful use of imagery is an important aspect of creating a vivid image in the mind’s eye.

Some personification examples that create effective imagery might be a rainy scene being personified as raindrops “dancing pirouettes across the pavement,” “hurling themselves to the earth with reckless abandon,” “caressing the rooftops,” “falling as though clinging to the sky had become more trouble than it was worth,” and so on.

You can take something as simple as a rainy day or as unassuming as a household item and personify them to illustrate them in a hundred different ways. Each way will lend something new and poignant to your story.

Try using personification on different images in your scene and see which fits best with your story’s mood and theme.

3. Connect with readers

The thing about readers is that the vast majority of are… people. And this means that by assigning human attributes to inanimate objects, right away you’re creating a connection that your reader will be able to relate to. This gives them a vivid image and brings abstract ideas to life.

For example, if you said that “the branches quaked fearfully against the coming storm,” most readers can imagine what that looks like because they know what it is to “quake fearfully” against something that’s headed their way. That’s a great example of successful personification.

By personifying non-human things by giving them human characteristics, you create a visceral reaction by connecting with a primal emotion in a colorful, imaginative way.

What’s the difference between personification vs. anthropomorphism?

There are a couple terms which are quite similar to personification, and one of them is anthropomorphism . So what’s the difference?

Anthropomorphism is a cornerstone of popular culture and animated films. It’s a literary device that takes animals or objects and portrays them as if they were actually humans . These objects can be absolutely anything, from a rakish candelabra with a French accent, to an old shoe, to a copy machine—but when they’re anthropomorphized, they appear as people-like.

Anthropomorphism is personification at its most extreme incarnation. Rather than using moments of personified connection to add subtle highlights to a scene, anthropomorphism creates an entire person out of something unexpected.

For example, we anthropomorphized characters in many Disney movies, like the very late rabbit in Alice in Wonderland or Nemo in Finding Nemo , two animals with person-like features; or in Lumière the candelabra in Beauty and the Beast . Disney has built an entire empire off of anthropomorphism!

We see it in literature too, in examples like Juneau Black’s Shady Hollow series, which takes place in an animal community. Among its lovable cast of characters are a reporter who’s a fox and a policeman who’s a bear. Apart from the fur and claws, everything about these animals is very human; however, portraying them as animals gives another dimension to the mood and setting of the story.

George Orwell’s Animal Farm is another famous example of animals given human agency through anthropomorphism.

What’s the difference between personification vs. chremamorphism?

Another, lesser known literary device that’s related to personification is chremamorphism . Chremamorphism is the inverse of personification: it ascribes non-human characteristics to a human (or humanoid) entity .

For example, calling a woman a “wallflower” or an “English rose” is an example of chremamorphism, because you’re using the imagery of an inanimate object to communicate something about a person.

Another example might to say that a man “moved at a glacial pace,” or that he “erupted in anger.” These take images from the natural world to give a new dimension to a human being.

Both personification and chremamorphism illustrate an abstract idea with relatable human qualities, adding more dimension to the story.

Examples of personification in everyday speech

We may think of personification purely as a literary device, but we use it without thinking in our everyday lives, too. Here are a few common examples of using human characteristics to describe nonhuman things.

“The sun glared down from the sky.” In this example, the speaker is personifying the sun to give a feeling of antagonism and discomfort on a hot summer’s day.

“The car complained as she started the rusty engine.” In this brief sentence, we can immediately imagine the sound of a tired car putting up a fight as it gets ready to work.

“The camera loves you.” This is a common phrase heard in film and modelling industries to describe someone as being photogenic. Personifying the camera makes it feel like what it’s looking at is being loved.

“The half-price sale sign called her name.” In real life, we love using personification to deflect responsibility for our choices. “It’s not my fault I went over my credit limit, those shoes were calling my name!”

“Comic books became constant companions throughout his childhood.” Personification can be a great way to convey a deep connection between a person and their most valuable possessions.

Examples of personification in literature

As you can see, personification is a great tool that writers can use to create rich description and meaning without resorting to wordy exposition. Let’s look at a few examples of writers who’ve put it into practice.

1. The Tiger in the Smoke , by Margery Allingham

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.

In this 1950s crime novel, Margery Allingham uses personification to set the tone of the story effectively. Describing the fog as something sentient and malevolent, reaching out fingers covered in big-city smoke to intrude on the couple’s evening, uses rich language to paint a powerful image, and the juxtaposition between the “elegant young people” and the image of the fog works effectively to draw the reader deeper into the story.

2. “To Autumn,” by John Keats

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

Personification is a beloved mainstay of poetry, and in this example Keats uses it to lend a human dimension to the natural world—in this case, the sun and the season of autumn are both shown as personified figures. Words like “conspiring” and “bosom-friend” impart a sense of their intimate relationship. Here we see how these forces might react to the turning of the seasons.

3. The Midnight Library , by Matt Haig

Old philosophy textbooks looked down at her, ghost furnishings from her university days, when life still had possibility.

In this example we see how the protagonist projects human characteristics onto her old textbooks, projecting some of her feelings onto them. We know, of course, that the textbooks aren’t actually looking down—it’s the character who’s looking up. But by using personification, we understand something more about the character and the unfulfilled guilt she feels about her past.

Personification makes your story come alive

Although personification is a mainstay of classic poetry, you can see how using human traits in a creative way gives depth, intensity, and life to even the simplest moments in your writing. It’s a powerful shortcut to writing description without the wordiness. A personified figure—that is, a non human concept given a human characteristic—can help your readers connect with your story, enhance the theme and tone of a scene, and elevate the pedestrian to the extraordinary.

Get feedback on your writing today!

Scribophile is a community of hundreds of thousands of writers from all over the world. Meet beta readers, get feedback on your writing, and become a better writer!

Join now for free

Related articles

What is Tone? Definition, with Examples

What is a Foil Character in Literature? Definition & Examples

Literary Devices List: 33 Main Literary Devices with Examples

What Is an Antagonist? Definition and 7 Examples

What is a Protagonist? Definition, Examples, and Tools

What Is Magical Realism? How to Bridge the Ordinary and the Extraordinary

Personification: A Complete Guide for students and teachers

What is Personification?

 Personification: A Definition

Before students can recognize the use of personification in the literature they read and use the device in their writing, they first need to have a firm grasp of what exactly personification is.

Fundamentally, personification is a specific type of metaphor. Generally, personification is defined as a literary device that assigns human qualities and attributes to objects or other non-human things.

Simple examples that illustrate this definition can be found easily in our everyday speech. Many common examples of personification are so clichéd as to be almost invisible to the naked ear. We commonly hear these in such phrases as “the angry wind” or when we talk of “the brooding sky.”

However, this basic definition doesn’t tell the whole story regarding this literary device.

Not only does personification refer to the ascribing of human qualities to nonhuman things, such as in the use of emotions in the examples above, but it can also refer to the doing of actions we normally ascribe exclusively to humans.

For example, in the phrase“the light danced across the sky”, even though we know the action of dancing is one that can technically only be performed by humans, we find no incongruity in the above phrase. A certain image is conjured up in our minds and we understand it imaginatively.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

❤️The use of  FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE  is like  “SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR AUTHORS.”  It is a powerful tool to create  VIVID IMAGERY  through words. This  HUGE 110 PAGE UNIT  guides you through a complete understanding of  FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE  as both a  READER  and  WRITER covering.

  A WORD ON ANTHROPOMORPHISM VS PERSONIFICATION

In any exploration of personification, it’s worth taking a moment to point out the difference between anthropomorphism and personification.

While they have much in common, take the time to ensure students are aware there are some key differences as the two are often confused.

If personification is the attribution of human qualities and attributes to nonhuman things, then we can think of anthropomorphism as going a step further to completely turn nonhumans into humans – in all but outward appearance, usually.

Here, think of the characters in Aesop’s fables or in George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

But, whether we are talking about personification or anthropomorphism, why bother with all this artifice? Why not just say what we mean in as straightforward a manner as possible?

WHY USE PERSONIFICATION IN LITERACY?

When we look over the bloody human history of war and genocides we can see a common precursor to slaughter is the dehumanizing of the ‘other’.

Often, this is done through labelling the perceived enemy as ‘rats’ or ‘cockroaches’ or other vermin. Stripping others of their humanity in such a fashion makes it easier to justify the slaughter that ensues.

Personification works in almost exactly the opposite way – you’ll be relieved to hear!

By humanising non-human things, we bring them closer to the reader’s experience, making it easier for the reader to relate to them in an imaginative way.

Personification often works to make things more memorable and relatable. It frequently represents a climbing down the ladder of abstraction conceptually.

In a nutshell, personification is a powerful tool that can create vivid images and deep subconscious connections in the mind of the reader, when it’s used at its most skilfully.

WHEN TO USE PERSONIFICATION IN WRITING.

Given personification is a figurative use of language, it is no surprise we see it so widely used in poetry. Indeed, this is where most students first encounter it.

However, students need to realise that personification is used in everything from everyday speech to popular songs and even in the visual arts where we sometimes see nonhuman objects depicted with human qualities. For example, a human face with puffed cheeks blowing to illustrate the wind.

As personification often focuses on human emotions, the literary device often doesn’t sit well in more formal contexts such as essays and technical writing.

There are exceptions to this general rule, of course.

Sometimes in formal writing or speech, personification can be used to climb down the ladder of abstraction to help illuminate a complex idea.

For example, when explaining the water cycle we may use a phrase like ‘the water wants to flow downhill’ to describe the water’s behaviour during a certain stage of the cycle.

THE PERSONIFICATION OF IDEAS

At the beginning of this article we defined personification as assigning ‘human qualities and attributes to objects or other non-human things.’ These things need not all be concrete nouns.

Personification often illuminates the abstract is through the personification of ideas and concepts.

We can see this clearly in the manner in which ancient civilisations personified abstract concepts in the form of gods.

For example, the Greeks had Eros and the Romans Venus as their personifications of love.

Not only does this personification of abstract ideas help us to understand the concepts, it affords an opportunity for human interaction with the concepts, as we can see throughout various mythological cycles and works of literature.

PERSONIFICATION IN POETRY: A WRITING ACTIVITY

Personification connects us intimately with the thing that is personified.

For this reason, poetry is the perfect genre to explore the use of personification in literature and for students to begin to experiment with the device in their own work.

Choose a poem that employs personification to discuss with the class. John Donne’s Death Be Not Proud , Keats’ To Autumn , or Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening are excellent and well-known examples.

Read the poem together and have students identify the uses of personification.

Encourage students to share their thoughts on why the poet employs personification and how its use contributes to the poem’s overall effect.

Once students have a good understanding of what personification is and why and how it’s used, the time is right to challenge students to come up with some original examples of personification in their own writing.

One fun way to do this is to provide students with a list of verbs normally associated with things people do (sing, dance, play, speak, etc).

Then, provide them with a list of nonhuman things and objects (book, river, fox, thunder, etc) and challenge the students to create examples of personification by matching words from each list.

For example, if we take the first word from each of the lists in brackets we’ll have ‘sing’ and ‘book’. From these we could create the example: The book sang to us the deeds of the hero .

With a little practice, your students will soon become confident in recognizing the use of personification in the work of others and understanding its impact. With a little more practice, your students will soon have their own words dancing on the page too!

USEFUL VIDEOS FOR TEACHING STUDENTS ABOUT PERSONIFICATION

Other great articles related to personification.

Figurative Language for Students and Teachers

13 Literary Devices to Supercharge your Writing Skills

7 ways to write great Characters and Settings | Story Elements

Teaching The 5 Story Elements: A Complete Guide for Teachers & Students

Elements of Literature

Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing.

4 Ways to Write Deeper with Personification

by Lisa Hall Wilson

I’m often asked how to go deeper in fiction. My jam is Deep Point of View, and I get that not everyone loves deep POV. That’s okay. However, if you’re looking for a really quick way to make your setting or characters come alive on the page, personification is one of those tools that every writer can use more effectively.

Personification: giving human-like qualities to non-human things. 

The last piece of pie called his name. The story jumped off the page. Opportunity knocks.

All of these examples give a human-like quality or emotion to something that isn’t human. Pie doesn’t talk. Stories can’t jump anymore than opportunity can knock on something. These are obviously not literal meanings but figurative.

Some types of personification deal in the literal. This is actually a deep rabbit hole on the various types of personification, but I’m not convinced that knowing the labels for these things is all that helpful, so long as you know of them and use them strategically.

Other types of personification are: anthropomorphism (a non-human animal, object or deity literally acting like a human), pathetic fallacy (attributing human feelings to the natural world), embodiment (a person or thing is representative of an abstract concept – she is integrity itself), etc.

Personification is efficient – it captures a big idea with just a few words. Here’s how personification can create an immersive and emotional depth for readers.

Make the Setting Instantly Relatable

Giving non-human things human qualities gives readers something tangible they can imagine and empathize with. Think of rain. We often personify rain to help us describe how we feel about it, but also describe its intensity or impact. It’s more efficient and allows us to show others how we perceive the rain. The rain punished everything it landed on, flattening and breaking. The rain welcomed us with a warm mist and a cooling touch. The rain blinded us and drove us off the road.

Can you picture or imagine the intensity or the impact of the rain in each of those sentences? It’s efficient writing, not only because it uses two seemingly unalike things to create a vivid picture, but also because it allows us to imbue emotion into it.

Setting details can reflect the character’s mood, or their impression of the natural world around them. A man running for his life who is hopeful he’ll survive, could find that the trees help him hide and shelter him. The man running for his life who isn’t sure how things will turn out, who maybe feels overwhelmed or overpowered, might perceive the branches pull and tear at his clothes and skin, hoping to slow him down.

The weather could be oppressive, foreboding, or temperamental.

Personification Is Immersive

Personification allows us to immerse the reader in the story and especially make the setting come alive. Describe the things in the scene as if those objects expressed an emotion.

Neil Gaiman writes, “Personification is an effective tool for placing the reader in the story with a 360 view of the setting. In Bleak House, Charles Dickens describes a thick fog settling as rolling, hovering, creeping, and ‘cruelly pinching’ the toes and fingers of a boy.” ( source here )

A warrior stands on the edge of the arena, rolling her neck and bouncing on her toes. She looks up at the trees. The leaves wave their encouragement.

How does this character feel about the upcoming battle? Can you now picture the trees with their waving fluttering leaves, and how – to her – the leaves stand in for some deity’s support perhaps?

Amplifies Connotation and Mood by Indirectly Expressing Feelings

How a character feels , the mood you’re trying to evoke, is efficiently created with personification. A young woman walks up to a house. How might you describe this walk from the character’s perspective?

The house might lean over her, frown at her, stand immovable against time, or keep secrets. Maybe the house is cheerful or tired. Maybe the house tells lies, allows the people inside to put on a veneer, a false façade. Each of those descriptions would be a slightly different take on how the character feels as they’re walking up to that house. Especially in deep POV, this is super effective in conveying mood, priority and even expressing feelings.

If the tired house leans over the broken walk, do you need to describe every broken shutter or missing shingle for the reader to understand how the character feels? The description also lends itself to a sympathetic view for readers.

If the looming peaks and angry pillars glare at those who dare to trespass, well, that’s a different house altogether. It may not be important that the reader pictures that house exactly as you do. What’s important is that the reader understands how the character feels as they’re walking up to that house.

Personification Requires Creativity

It’s very easy to fall into cliché and just repeat phrases we’re familiar with. Don’t do it. Surprise your readers! Force them to lean in and care, to sympathize, to cheer for the characters because they know how this feels !

Take the extra step to immerse yourself in your character’s viewpoint. What in their world would be familiar to them that could also show readers what’s important or a priority?

Metaphors and similes with their comparisons are popular, and fairly so, but to take your writing even deeper, consider strategically using personification to pull your reader deeper into the story.

Do you regularly make use of personification in your writing? Which method is your favorite? Please share it with us in the comments!

Make sure to visit Lisa’s free Facebook group Going Deeper Writing Emotions for tips, free content, and other goodies.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Lisa Hall-Wilson  is a writing teacher and award-winning writer and author. She’s the author of  Method Acting For Writers: Learn Deep Point Of View Using Emotional Layers.  Her blog  Beyond Basics For Writers  explores all facets of the popular writing style deep point of view and offers practical tips for writers. 

She runs the free Facebook group Going Deeper With Emotions where she shares tips and videos on writing in deep point of view. 

30 comments on “4 Ways to Write Deeper with Personification”

Fascinating article. Thank you. I rarely use personification when I think about it. It's funny you use a Neil Gaiman quoting Charles Dickens describing fog. I'm writing a story now that has fog as a main character. I won't steal it, but it gives me a lot to think about when describing my fog.

He really makes the fog feel like it's alive, right?

It really does. I just don't want to copy it even though I want to. It will help a lot though.

Brilliant Lisa! I do this, but don't think about it. I just put myself in the scene - smells, feelings and all, then describe it. This is a primer on how to do that with words. Sharing it everywhere!

I love it. It's super powerful, and I use it intuitively, but it was fun to sit down and think about how I use it and the effect it creates.

Excellent and clearly written explanation- thank you. I’m already looking around me (dog, sofa, lamp) and mentally practicing personification.

hahaha - Awesome! Completely immerse yourself in the story and feel your way through setting and description. Avoid just cataloging what you see, how your character FEEL. That helped me.

To add to what others have already said, one of the things I really liked about you article is the point that personification is efficient. It gets a lot done in an economical way ... in contrast to similes and metaphors, which can draw attention to themselves and slow the story down. Thank you!!

I find metaphors and similes get over-used sometimes. You can overuse personification and have it lose its effect also. Use it strategically. These are things I often add in during edits rather than first drafts.

Another brilliant post that really makes me rock back on my heels and THINK about writing. I am weather-obsessed so it appears in my writing, but you gave so many other great examples. Love it!

Awesome. Glad you found it helpful!

You have to be careful about personification in fantasy stories. When magical things are possible, it can be confusing. 🙂

I think personification is amazing in fantasy!! Think of Lewis and the man appearing in the water to destroy the Telmarines charging over the river. Of Tolkien's horses in the river when Arwen was saving Frodo from the ring wraiths. It's used in classic literature in every genre as well as contemporary.

Fabulous post, Lisa! Your description of the use of rain really drove the point home. I use personification for emotion. "Jack looked back at the lidless-eyed windows and saw someone peering down at them from the second floor." Creepy things will happen in this building.

Great example. It's very powerful, but needs to be used strategically to be effective.

Oh, this post is a *beaut*!! I love all your insights and examples, but this one's wry humor set me up for the day!

Glad you found it helpful!

I love this. I personify locations and weather quite often. I treat them just as I would any other characters in the story. Giving them life give them a greater ability to get inside the heads of the human characters and mess with their minds.

Yes, some stories use setting almost as a character itself. Diana Gabaldon's first two Outlander book - Scotland is almost a character in each book. Really added depth and richness to the story for me.

Great post, Lisa, with a fresh way of thinking of ways to paint a vivid picture and reveal character. Sharing!

Glad it was helpful and thanks so much for the shares! Very appreciated.

You always inspire me...and make me think real, real, real hard. I'm striving to hit the right notes with my WIP. Here are a couple of questions:

If you're infusing deep POV throughout a novel, does the opening line/paragraph/page need to be deep POV? Or is that the only place an author might slip in some "telling" to help set up the story. I think I know the answer.

Can you give us 3-5 top-level tips to help us do deep POV correctly the first time? For me it seems to be a backend effort, but I'd prefer to draft text more cleanly.

Are inner thoughts a good way to slip in some telling?

Deep POV should work FOR you, not be a template or a prison. If the entire story is in deep pov, then why wouldn't the first few pages be too? I think our tendency is to deliver a lot of info up front and the reader doesn't need to know all of it right now to be pulled into the action. I'm working on a blog post about the TV series Yellowstone and how the writing feels a lot like deep POV. You're just thrown into the story. Took me three episodes before I knew the names of all the main characters - but that didn't matter. I was hooked well before that.

I did write a post a while ago with those high-level kind of tips. THinking I should update it, but here it is: https://lisahallwilson.com/5-pro-tips-to-write-deep-pov-effectively/

...slip in some telling... Telling should be used strategically, where it's most efficient for the sake of the story. Backstory is another one of those things where our tendency is to give everything all at once, but the reader only needs a portion of it to understand what's going on right now. Backstory should answer one question for the reader and leave them with two more - ideally.

Hope that helps!

Great reminder regarding personification. I've always struggled with relating weather to emotion, this provides another tool to improve on that. Thank you!

I use it occasionally.

Your description made me wonder if I use it; I'll have to check.

But I had another thought: narrator intrusion. Which I avoid at all cost. The difference has to be in how the character is reacting to the setting, etc. I don't want to hear myself, so everything has to be from the character's pov. I would never think of an 'angry rain' - it takes ME out of the story.

I write close multiple third person pov for the mainstream trilogy in progress, and have written close first - but only for a story with a single character. I aim to elicit whatever will make the READER experience the rain as the character, not to tell the reader how the character feels about it.

Thought provoking.

How the character feels - not the writer or the reader - is the point of deep POV. There is NO author voice, no narration - at all - in deep POV.

This is so good, Lisa, it spoon-feeds me inspiration. (See how good it is?) I'm sharing everywhere!

I enjoyed this so much I signed up to follow your blog.

Lisa, I hadn’t replied on this before, but wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your posts. I have the habit of keeping a few open tabs with information that I find inspirational, and worth a re-read from time to time... especially when I feel I’m slipping into a rut. This is definitely one of those articles. It makes me step back, and look at things with a new perspective... taking time to consider the character’s surroundings, and how that could breathe new life into my writing. Thanks for all the awesome advice you share. You’re such a blessing!

Subscribe to WITS

Type your email…

Recent Posts

• What is Your Writing Barrier?
• Ways to Know Your Characters, Part 4- Strengths
• The Truth About Website Growth
• 5 Things Working With Kids Taught Me About Writing
• The Name Game: Tips for Naming Your Characters
• Ellen Buikema
• Jenny Hansen
• Lynette M. Burrows
• Lisa Norman

Copyright © 2024 Writers In The Storm - All Rights Reserved

personification

What is personification definition, usage, and literary examples, personification definition.

Personification  (per-SAHN-nuh-fuh-KAY-shun) is a technique of  figurative language  that endows non-human subjects with human characteristics. This  figure of speech  is a form of  metaphor , in that it ascribes the qualities of one thing to another.

Personified animals, ideas, and inanimate objects may exhibit human emotions or perform human actions. “The fire burned with fury” is one example of personification. A fire can’t feel or express emotion, but a writer may use this description to vividly convey the flames’ intensity.

While Merriam-Webster lists the “attribution of personal qualities” as the primary definition of  personification , the word has an alternative definition: “embodiment,” meaning the tangible representation of an idea or feeling.

How to Use Personification

Personification is most effective when used with purpose. Writers must first consider what image or feeling they’re trying to create, then craft a sentence accordingly.

Imagine this scene: It’s a pleasant day, and Jack can’t wait to get outside and enjoy it. That description is functional, but it’s not vibrant. Personification can paint a more compelling picture that shows exactly why Jack is so enticed to head outside:

Jack spilled out the front door and onto the lawn. It was warmer and brighter under the smiling sun, where the light breeze ran soft fingers through his hair, than in the stifling house. The birds congregated on the power line conversed among themselves, while the neighbor’s excitable terrier barked a greeting through the fence, his wagging tail begging for attention.

This paragraph paints a lively picture, depicting natural elements as affectionate friends, making it easy to see why Jack’s so eager to be outside. It also implies that Jack feels a certain kinship with the outdoors; the reader can sense how he appreciates the natural life around him.

Common Examples of Personification

Below are some common examples of personification you may have encountered before.

• Stars winked in the midnight sky.
• Wind rattled the windows as the storm raged
• The engine gave one final protest before the car shuddered to a stop.
• Sunbeams peaked through cracks in the clouds.
• Time marches
• The ocean was calling his name.
• The wood canoe was a beauty, with her gentle curves and natural finish.
• The parched soil eagerly swallowed the rain.
• His mind screeched to a halt.
• The biting cold stole his breath away.

All these descriptions are figurative, not literal. The wood canoe, by its very nature, is genderless, but the use of a feminine pronoun reveals how the narrator cherishes it. Likewise, oceans don’t speak, but this personification conveys the narrator’s yearning to visit the sea.

Personification isn’t purely restricted to human attributes, though. Consider these examples:

• Copies of her latest novel flew off the shelves.
• The smile melted off his face.

People and objects can’t fly, nor can they melt or spark. In these examples, personification is pulling attributes from other objects, as these lines evoke images of birds in flight and melting ice cream.

Personification in Idioms

Personification is also common in everyday speech, particularly in  idioms .

• New York is “the city that never sleeps.” Cities aren’t living, breathing things, thus they don’t’ need to sleep. But this idiom is conveying how there are always people about, no matter the time of day or night, in this lively city.
• “Time flies when you’re having fun” doesn’t mean time is actually flying. Instead, it’s pointing out that that people tend to forget the clock when engaged with something fun and thus can’t mark the passage of time accurately.
• “Actions speak louder than words” means that a person’s behavior can be more revealing than their words, not that their actions or words literally speak.

Personification and Anthropomorphism

 Anthropomorphism is a figurative technique included under the umbrella of personification. Both endow something that is not human with human characteristics. Where personification is more a matter of  imagery  and  metaphor , however, anthropomorphism is a matter of character. It blends humanity with something that’s not human at all.

An anthropomorphized object or animal will behave as human and sometimes exhibit humans’ physical characteristics. Anthropomorphized characters often have the ability to speak, walk on two legs, experience nuanced emotion, and form complex social relationships.

There are several Disney movies that exemplify anthropomorphism. The talking housewares in  Beauty and the Beast  are one notable example; the humanoid emotions in  Inside Out  are another.

Zootopia  utilizes the most classic definition of anthropomorphism. The movie features animal characters who talk, wear clothes, drive cars, work conventional jobs, and form interpersonal relationships that transcend the boundaries of the natural world. (You wouldn’t find a rabbit teaming up with a fox in the wild, after all!)

Anthropomorphism vs. Zoomorphism

Zoomorphism is the opposite of anthropomorphism. Where the latter gives human qualities to a non-human entity, zoomorphism attributes animal qualities to humans. It can also refer to the ascription of one species’s qualities to another.

Think of Dino the pet dinosaur from  The Flintstones ; he barks and wags his tail like a dog. Spider-Man is another example of zoomorphism, as his superpowers draw from spiders’ abilities, like crawling along walls or ceilings and harboring the proportionate strength of a spider.

Personification and Pathetic Fallacy

The idea of pathetic fallacy, or “emotional falseness,” was first introduced by British critic John Ruskin. He coined the phrase to describe  Romantic  poets’ tendency to assign human behaviors or emotions to inanimate natural subjects, criticizing “false” perceptions influenced by heightened emotion. Grief, for example, may cause one to view cloudy gray skies as mournful, indifferent, or perhaps just darker than they are in reality. According to Ruskin, this sentimentally skews a person’s view of the world.

The modern understanding of pathetic fallacy has deviated from Ruskin’s original definition. Particularly in scientific fields, it has become a pejorative phrase that discourages applying human characteristics to natural phenomena because such attributions are not scientific. The ocean is commonly described as cruel, for example, but oceans don’t actually have the capacity for cruelty. So, a critic of such pathetic fallacies would argue it’s inaccurate to suggest otherwise.

Why Writers Use Personification

Personification is a handy technique because it can make an abstract idea more concrete. Describing non-human or inanimate objects through the human  perspective  helps readers understand them, by linking the  narrative  to the reader’s lived experience. These connections can encourage readers to see the world or an idea in new ways. They also help the text forge a deeper relationship with the audience.

The idea of Mother Nature is a prime example. Nature is vast, full of complex interactions and processes, but the Mother Nature image allows people to view its component parts as a sort of family dynamic, which makes it easier to understand.

Beyond that, personification is highly illustrative and evocative. It can help readers imagine a  setting  or scene more vividly. It also packs an incredibly descriptive punch. “The storm raged outside” is much more concise, dramatic, and memorable than “The storm was strong and loud,” for example.

Personification in Media

Personification is just as useful in other forms of media, including music, marketing, and art.

Personification in Music

There are many songs that use personification to create more vivid images or evoke emotion in the listener. Take these lines from “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by the Beatles:

I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping

While my guitar gently weeps

Guitars don’t weep, and love doesn’t sleep, but these descriptions enhance the scene, endowing it with a somber, reflective energy.

Personification in Marketing

Personification is more common in marketing than you probably realize. In fact, brand personification is a marketing tactic unto itself. The Pillsbury Dough Boy comes to mind, as do the commercials in which M&Ms walk, talk, and interact with each other.

You can also find examples in slogans, like “Oreo: Milk’s favorite cookie.” While milk can’t have preferences since it isn’t sapient, the slogan plays on childhood nostalgia of pairing milk and cookies to entice consumers to buy the product.

Personification in Art

Artists use personification to make abstractions more concrete, just like writers do. Virtues and vices are often personified in paintings or sculpture, such as the Statue of Liberty or the  Civic Virtue  fountain, both in New York City.

Death is another concept often personified in art. A popular example is the Grim Reaper, a skeletal embodiment of death armed with a scythe and an hourglass.

Personification Examples in Literature

1. John Keats, “Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art”

Personification was rampant in  Romantic -era  poetry , and the works of John Keats are no exception. Take, for example, this love  sonnet  addressed to a distant star:

Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art—

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like Nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite […]

In these opening lines, the poet expresses a desire to be as steadfast, patient, and watchful as a star. Because stars are, generally, always there, Keats’s narrator hopes to stay by his lover’s side with a similar constancy.

2. Shel Silverstein,  The Giving Tree

This illustrated  children’s book  depicts the relationship between a boy and a tree. Throughout the book, the tree is personified as female, with human emotions and the ability to speak:

Once there was a tree

And she loved little boy.

And every day the boy would come

And he would gather her leaves

And make them into crowns and play king of the forest.

[…] And the boy loved the tree very much.

And the tree was happy.

But time went by,

And the boy grew older.

And the tree was often alone.

There are several instances of personification in these lines. Feminine pronouns like  she  humanize the tree, and adjectives like  loved ,  happy , and  alone  establish the tree’s affection for the boy—she delights in his presence and is lonely in his absence. This enables children to perceive the tree as a person who can reciprocate the boy’s friendship. It further allows children to sympathize with the tree, which gives the story’s ending more emotional weight.

3. Zora Neale Hurston,  Their Eyes Were Watching God

Protagonist Janie Crawford recounts her maturation from girlhood to womanhood in Hurston’s famous novel. During that journey, she meets Joe Starks, and their complicated marriage endures for 20 years before Joe dies of kidney failure. When Janie first learns Joe’s grim diagnosis, she considers death, imagining it as a man:

Death, that strange being with the huge square toes who lived way in the West. The great one who lived in the straight house like a platform without sides to it, and without a roof. What need has Death for a cover, and what winds can blow against him? He stands in his high house that overlooks the world. Stands watchful and motionless all days with his sword drawn back, waiting for the messenger to bid him come. Been standing there before there was a where or a when or a then.

Hurston fortifies her personification of Death by using pronouns like  he  and  him , referring to Death’s “huge square toes,” giving him possessions like a house and a sword, and describing his performance of human actions like living, standing, watching, and waiting. This image of Death, depicted in the trappings of humanity, further emphasizes that death and dying are beyond any human’s ability to control. It is powerful, timeless, and inevitable, and now it’s coming for Joe.

Further Resources on Personification

“Personification” by the Bazillions  blends a catchy melody with informative lyrics to explain common examples of personification to kids.

The House Takes a Vacation , an illustrated children’s book about a house that decides to take a holiday, is a fun example of personification.

Review and identify more than  50 examples of personification  to test your understanding of this figurative device.

Related Terms

• Anthropomorphism
• Figurative Language

• On My Bookshelf
• Teaching Resources
• Privacy Policy

February 26, 2015

• Creative Writing 101: Object Personification

You Might Also Like

Post a comment.

Find It Fast

Get support, shop my tpt store, top categories.

• my bookshelf

Post Topics

Blog archive.

• ►  April (1)
• ►  December (3)
• ►  August (4)
• ►  July (10)
• ►  June (2)
• ►  February (2)
• ►  November (3)
• ►  October (2)
• ►  September (2)
• ►  July (2)
• ►  June (9)
• ►  May (1)
• ►  March (1)
• ►  February (1)
• ►  January (1)
• ►  December (1)
• ►  November (2)
• ►  October (1)
• ►  September (1)
• ►  June (1)
• ►  May (3)
• ►  February (6)
• ►  January (5)
• ►  December (2)
• ►  October (6)
• ►  September (6)
• ►  August (5)
• ►  July (6)
• ►  May (2)
• ►  April (4)
• ►  March (4)
• ►  February (4)
• ►  December (6)
• ►  November (10)
• ►  October (13)
• ►  September (10)
• ►  August (14)
• ►  July (7)
• ►  May (4)
• ►  April (7)
• ►  March (10)
• ►  February (7)
• ►  January (7)
• ►  November (4)
• ►  October (8)
• ►  September (13)
• ►  August (13)
• ►  July (9)
• ►  June (6)
• ►  May (7)
• ►  April (13)
• ►  March (12)
• ►  February (11)
• ►  January (12)
• ►  December (7)
• ►  November (11)
• ►  October (14)
• ►  August (12)
• ►  July (12)
• ►  June (7)
• ►  May (8)
• ►  April (14)
• ►  March (17)
• ►  October (12)
• ►  July (11)
• ►  June (5)
• ►  May (14)
• ►  February (13)
• ►  January (13)
• ►  December (8)
• ►  November (13)
• ►  September (12)
• ►  August (11)
• ►  May (5)
• You Oughta Know About...NSRF's Protocols & Activities
• Creative Writing 101: Scary Story Mini-Books
• Common Core Writing: Assessing Student Writing
• Get Organized & Stay on Top of Assignments With Ho...
• Visualizing Theme with Evidence-Based Collages
• ►  October (4)
• ►  September (4)
• ►  August (3)
• ►  July (4)

The Best Personification Examples

Written by Dan

Last updated February 16, 2024

Have you ever wondered how to bring your writing or classroom lessons to life? Personification examples can help do just that!

Teachers can use metaphor, symbolism and analogy to make reading more engaging by giving inanimate objects, ideas and animals human characteristics.

From classic literature like The Velveteen Rabbit and beloved children’s stories such as Winnie-the-Pooh right up to modern favourites such as Monster’s Inc., personification is an excellent way for educators to bridge the gap between books where characters come alive on the page.

In this post, we’ll look at some fantastic examples of personification from popular media so that you can inject creativity into your writing style.

Related : For more, check out our Alliteration Examples For Every Year Group article here.

Table of Contents

100 Examples Of Personification

• The wind whispered secrets through the rustling leaves.
• The sun stretched its golden arms to embrace the day.
• Time crawled at a snail’s pace as we waited in anticipation.
• The old house groaned under the weight of its years.
• The moon cast a watchful eye over the silent earth.
• The storm clouds grumbled like an old man.
• The waves danced to the rhythm of the coastal breeze.
• The city lights winked at the night travelers.
• The shadows crept across the walls as the candle flickered its last breath.
• The mountain loomed over the valley like a stoic guardian.
• The book’s pages fluttered eagerly as the wind turned them.
• The flowers bowed their heads in the gentle rain.
• The river sang its song as it flowed over the rocks.
• The fire crackled with laughter in the hearth.
• The car engine coughed to life on a cold morning.
• The trees swayed to the music of the wind.
• The stars twinkled mischievously in the velvet night.
• The door protested with a creak as it opened.
• The clock hands marched in unison, keeping time.
• The teapot whistled a tune of readiness.
• The autumn leaves waltzed to the ground.
• The frost painted delicate patterns on the window.
• The sunflowers turned their heads to follow the sun’s journey.
• The night wrapped the world in a blanket of darkness.
• The chocolate cake’s aroma beckoned from the kitchen.
• The garden path wound lazily through the flowers.
• The kettle purred contentedly on the stove.
• The hills rolled gently across the landscape.
• The raindrops drummed a steady beat on the rooftop.
• The mirror reflected the room’s soul.
• The fog crept in on silent feet.
• The bridge arched its back over the river.
• The ice glistened like a thousand diamonds in the sun.
• The walls soaked up the room’s history.
• The tires hummed a lullaby on the smooth road.
• The pen danced across the paper, leaving a trail of words.
• The road stretched out like a lazy cat in the sun.
• The wind carved sculptures out of the snowdrifts, shaping them with an invisible hand.
• The guitar’s strings whispered the melody of an old love song.
• The sun’s rays kissed the dew-covered grass, waking it gently.
• The thunder roared like an angry lion in the distance.
• The cactus stood like a lonely sentinel in the desert.
• The old gate greeted every visitor with a squeak and a groan.
• The night sky draped itself over the world, studded with starry jewels.
• The mountains reached up to brush the soft underbelly of the sky.
• The brook babbled stories of its journey to anyone who would listen.
• The clock’s face blushed as the seconds ticked by, always watched.
• The rain’s fingers tapped on the window, beckoning me to look outside.
• The fog whispered ghostly tales as it shrouded the town.
• The forest held its breath as the hunters passed through.
• The abandoned barn sagged with sorrow, missing its former glory.
• The coffee’s aroma wrapped around me like a warm scarf.
• The train tracks snaked through the countryside, connecting towns like stitches.
• The fireworks exploded with joy, celebrating the night.
• The willow’s branches swirled in a graceful dance with the wind.
• The ocean’s waves clapped against the shore in applause.
• The apple’s skin blushed red in the sun’s warm gaze.
• The ivy hugged the walls of the old schoolhouse.
• The piano’s keys giggled as little fingers stumbled over them.
• The sun dipped its toes into the horizon before taking the plunge into night.
• The stairs moaned under the weight of heavy footsteps.
• The blanket of snow muffled the sounds of the forest creatures.
• The roses’ petals unfurled like secrets being told.
• The bell tower announced the hour with a throaty chime.
• The path knew the soles of many shoes, guiding each traveler’s journey.
• The wind’s fingers tousled my hair playfully.
• The moonbeam’s brush painted a silver path across the water.
• The tires gripped the road like a firm handshake.
• The candle flame danced and twirled in a private performance.
• The candle flame danced and twirled in a private performance, casting a warm glow on the room’s secrets.
• The morning stretched and yawned, casting off the shadows of the night.
• The mailbox stood at attention, guarding the day’s news and secrets.
• The skyscrapers reached for the clouds, yearning to touch the sky.
• The bread’s crust crackled with laughter as it cooled on the windowsill.
• The curtains billowed like sails on a ship, charting a course through the ocean of air.
• The computer hummed a steady rhythm, orchestrating the symphony of digital tasks.
• The keys on the keyboard clicked like tap dancers on a stage.
• The hills wore a cloak of green, lush and vibrant against the sky.
• The sun’s last rays stroked the horizon lovingly, saying goodbye to the day.
• The shadows played hide and seek as the streetlights flickered to life.
• The river wrapped the city in a watery embrace, a liquid ribbon tying it together.
• The wind’s howl was a symphony of nature’s raw power.
• The moon’s pale light draped the world in a gown of ghostly beauty.
• The bookshelf groaned under the weight of stories untold.
• The coat rack greeted each garment with a wooden hug.
• The wine’s bouquet danced gracefully in the glass, a prelude to taste.
• The guitar’s body resonated with the heartbeats of melodies past.
• The velvet night sky wore a tiara of twinkling stars.
• The tree’s branches scratched at the sky, itching to leave their mark.
• The clouds sailed across the sky, a fleet of ships on a voyage to the unknown.
• The popcorn’s aroma leapt from the bowl, inviting moviegoers to partake.
• The lawn’s green blades stood at attention, an army of nature’s soldiers.
• The stadium’s seats echoed with the ghosts of cheers and victories.
• The paintbrush swept across the canvas, a conductor directing its colors.
• The alarm clock screamed its wake-up call, a relentless drill sergeant.
• The teacup cradled the warmth, a porcelain nest for comfort.
• The chocolate melted on the tongue, whispering sweet nothings.
• The swing set swayed back and forth, cradling the laughter of children in its arms.
• The ice skated across the glass, chilling the drink with a cold caress.
• The attic stored memories in its dusty corners, holding them close like treasured keepsakes.

Related : For more, check out our How To Fix Grammar Mistakes here.

This table provides a variety of examples where personification is used to give human qualities to objects or abstract concepts, enhancing the imagery and emotional connection in both literary and everyday language.

Using Personification Examples In Description

The sun slowly rose over the horizon, its warm rays embracing the world below. The sky was painted with hues of pink and orange as if it were blushing at the sight of the sun’s arrival.

The clouds lazily drifted by like fluffy white pillows floating on a gentle breeze. In the distance, I could hear the trees whispering to each other, their leaves rustling in excitement for a new day. The birds sang sweetly in the morning air, melodies like a symphony that only nature could compose.

Walking along the path, I couldn’t help but feel that everything around me was alive and thriving with energy. It was as if Mother Nature had awakened from her slumber and was ready to greet us all with open arms.

The city was alive with energy as the sun began to set. The skyscrapers reached towards the sky like eager children trying to touch the clouds. The traffic flowed like a river, each car jostling for position like fish swimming upstream.

The neon lights blinked and flashed like dancers moving to an unseen beat. The smell of fresh pizza wafted through the air, tempting passersby with its delicious aroma.

The sound of music drifted down from open windows, filling the streets with melody and rhythm. Even the graffiti on the walls seemed alive, telling stories of rebellion and creativity. It was where anything could happen, and dreams could be made or broken instantly.

The sun slowly crept over the horizon, its warm fingers stretching across the sky. The birds chirped happily, their voices like a symphony filling the air with music. The flowers turned their faces towards the sun, basking in its golden glow as if worshipping it.

The trees swayed gently in the breeze, their branches reaching out to embrace each other as old friends reunited.

The clouds lazily drifted by overhead, their fluffy bodies taking on all sorts of shapes and sizes as if they were putting on a show just for me.

The waves crashed against the shore, their powerful bodies slamming into the sand with such force that I could feel it in my bones. It was as if nature had come alive before me, each element dancing and singing perfectly.

In this paragraph:

“The sun slowly crept up” is an example of personification because it suggests that the sun has human-like qualities (in this case, the ability to move slowly).

The birds chirped happily” is an example of personification because it suggests that the birds can feel emotions (happiness).

“The flowers turned their faces towards the sun” is an example of personification because it suggests that the flowers have human-like features (faces) and actions (turning).

“The trees swayed gently” is an example of personification because it suggests trees can move.

“The clouds lazily drifted by overhead” is an example of personification because it suggests that clouds have human-like qualities (laziness) and actions (drifting).

“The waves crashed against the shore” is an example of personification because it suggests that waves are capable of aggressive action (crashing).

Related : For more, check out our How To Use Exclamation Marks Correctly here.

Teaching Ideas For Personification

1. Introduce the concept: Explain to students that personification is a literary device used in writing to give human qualities or characteristics to objects, animals, or ideas.

2. Provide examples: Show students examples of personification in literature and poetry to help them understand how this style of writing works.

3. Practice exercises: Have students practice writing their sentences using personification to help them better grasp how to use the technique.

4. Discuss: Ask questions about how personification can be used in different types of writing and how it affects the meaning and imagery of a piece.

5. Group work: Assign groups of students to write stories or poems with personification as the central theme. Have groups present their work to the class and discuss what they have learned about personification.

6. Creative writing: Encourage students to use personification in their creative writing projects, such as short stories, poems, and novels. Provide feedback on how well they use personification and how it can be improved.

7. Apply to other subjects: Personification can also be used in other areas of study, such as history and science. Have students devise examples of how personification can apply to different subjects.

Personification Resources

Here are five websites that have resources about personification, along with a summary of their content and the relevant links:

• Literary Devices: Personification – This article on Literary Devices explains what personification is and provides examples of it in literature. It also discusses the purpose of using personification in writing and how to use it effectively. Link
• Poetry Foundation: Personification – The Poetry Foundation offers an overview of personification in poetry, including examples from famous poets like William Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson. The article also explores the history of personification as a literary device. Link
• ThoughtCo.: Understanding Personification in Literature – This article from ThoughtCo. Provides a comprehensive guide to understanding personification in literature. It covers topics such as the definition of personification, different types of personification, and how to analyze its use in literature. Link
• Literary Terms: Personification Examples – Literary Terms offers a list of examples of personification from various works of literature, including poems, novels, and short stories. Each model explains how the author uses personification to enhance their writing. Link
• Study.com: What is Personification? – Study.com provides a video lesson that explains what personification is and demonstrates its use through several examples from literature and everyday language. The lesson also includes a quiz to test your understanding of the topic. Link

Isn’t it remarkable how personification can breathe life into our writing and classroom lessons? We can create engaging, relatable narratives that captivate our readers or students by bestowing human characteristics upon inanimate objects, ideas, and animals.

From timeless classics like The Velveteen Rabbit to modern favorites such as Monsters Inc., personification is a powerful tool that helps bridge the gap between the page and the reader’s imagination. Can you visualize the magical world of talking toys, thinking cars, or feeling forests that this literary device can conjure?

As we’ve explored in this post, personification is not just a literary device but a gateway to creativity and engagement. You can transform your writing or teaching style from mundane to magical with a sprinkle of imagination, a dash of creativity, and a good dose of personification.

Isn’t it inspiring to consider the transformative journey you could embark upon with personification? So why wait? Start experimenting with this versatile literary device today, and watch as your words transform into a vibrant tapestry of characters that leap off the page!

Q1: What exactly is personification?

A1: That’s an excellent starting point! Personification is a literary device that attributes human characteristics to non-human entities like animals, objects, or abstract ideas. Can you imagine giving a sunset the ability to blush or a tree the capacity to whisper?

Q2: Why is it essential to teach personification in the classroom?

A2: Great question! Personification enhances students’ understanding of literature, fosters creativity, and helps them engage in complex thoughts. Can you envision the vibrant stories your students could create using personification?

Q3: Could you provide some examples of personification from popular literature?

A3: Absolutely! Consider The Velveteen Rabbit, where the titular toy rabbit comes to life, or Winnie-the-Pooh, where the animal characters exhibit human-like emotions and behaviours. Can you see how these examples make the narrative more engaging and relatable?

Q4: How can I introduce personification to my students?

A4: A good starting point is to discuss examples from their favorite books or films. You can also have them experiment with personification in their own writing. Can you visualize the excitement as your students explore this new literary device?

Q5: What are some activities that can help students practice personification?

A5: There are many creative ways to practice personification. Students could write dialogues for inanimate objects, create stories where animals behave like humans, or even draw pictures depicting personified objects. Can you sense the fun and learning these activities could bring to your classroom?

Q6: How can personification enhance students’ overall writing skills?

A6: By using personification, students learn to express their ideas creatively, making their writing more engaging and vivid. Can you perceive how this could elevate their writing to a whole new level?

Related Posts

About The Author

I'm Dan Higgins, one of the faces behind The Teaching Couple. With 15 years in the education sector and a decade as a teacher, I've witnessed the highs and lows of school life. Over the years, my passion for supporting fellow teachers and making school more bearable has grown. The Teaching Couple is my platform to share strategies, tips, and insights from my journey. Together, we can shape a better school experience for all.

Join our email list to receive the latest updates.

Add your form here