Personification is a literary device where human qualities are assigned to animals, objects, elements of nature, or abstract ideas. The writers use personification to provide non-human entities lifelike characteristics in order to enable the reader to emotionally connect with the text.
By transforming abstract concepts or inanimate things to relatable and dynamic figures, this technique makes the descriptions more vivid and adds the vividness of storytelling.
Definition of Personification
A technique where human traits, emotions or actions are attributed to non human subject making it relatable or even familiar. It breathes life into descriptions and allows the readers to feel the essence of the objects or concepts being conveyed.
For example, by using personification one can say, “the wind whispered through the trees” rather than “the wind blew through the trees”. In this way, it extends a voice to the wind and suggests that it had an intention or emotion.
Common Examples of Personification
Personification is generally used in poetry and prose to devolves mood, tone and imagery. Here are some common examples:
- The sun smiled down on us.
In this sentence, the sun has been personified as “smiling”, which evokes warmth and friendliness. - Time flies when you’re having fun.
Here, time is given the human ability to “fly”, which suggests that it moves quickly when we’re enjoying ourselves. - The wind howled in the night.
The wind is portrayed as howling, an action usually associated with animals. It enhances the unnatural or unsettling mood. - The flowers danced in the breeze.
Flowers don’t literally dance, but this personification brings out the graceful movement of flowers swaying in the wind. - Death came knocking at his door.
Here, the death has been given the human ability to knock. This personifies it as an entity actively approaching.
Examples of Personification in Literature
Following are some examples of works of literature, wherein personification functions to enrich the narrative:
Example#1
“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
“Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief…”
(Act 2, Scene 2)
In this excerpt, the author personifies the sun and the moon. The sun depicts as a fair entity capable of rising with intent, while the moon has been described as “envious”, “sick”, and “pale with grief”.
Shakespeare assigns human emotions to space objection to emphasize the intensity of Romeo and Juliet’s love. It suggests that their passion can overpower even the natural order of the day and night. This personification intensifies the emotional stakes of their concealed relationship.
Example#2
“Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
“O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing…”
(Stanza 1)
Here, the wind has been vividly personified as a wild and powerful entity with agency. The author imparts human intentions and emotions to the natural force that he refers to as the “breath of Autumn’s being” and as driving the leaves “like ghosts”.
The personification here expresses the wind’s ever changing and transformational powers, which reflects the desire of the poet for renewal and change, not only in nature, but in himself.
See also: Examples of Portmanteau in Literature
Example#3
“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson
“Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.”
(Stanza 1)
In the stanza, the writer personifies death as a polite gentleman who takes the speaker out for a carriage ride. Dickinson changes the images of death from that of the fearsome, to the calm and inevitable companion, by endowing death with the human trait of kindness.
He personifies death and the afterlife, which enables the readers to better assess their own notions of death and the afterlife from an internalized and less terrifying angle that presents death as a natural part of the overall journey of the life.
Example#4
“The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway
“The moon runs away…and the sun comes to bring it all back.”
(Chapter 4)
The author personifies the moon and the sun the ability to ‘run’ and ‘bring back’. Such portrayal of celestial bodies as active beings in natural cycle helps to represent the persistent struggle and resilience of the protagonist Santiago.
The personification emphasizes the themes of his endurance and the cyclical nature of life, which ties him to the larger forces of the nature as he battles the marlin and the sea.
Example#5
“Moby-Dick” by Herman Melville
“The sea was as smooth as a mirror, but the moon, high overhead, was swollen and radiant, and threw a bright sheen upon the waves…”
(Chapter 132)
Melville personifies the sea in Moby-Dick by describing it with human qualities like “smoothness” that can receive the light of the moon. This portrayal of the moon as ‘swollen and radiant’ implies wholeness and life.
This personification creates a serene and almost sentient seascape that reflects the inner turmoil and grandeur of Captain Ahab’s obsession. The sea and moon are made human with attributes, which are then used to connect their symbolic relationship to the characters’ psychological states.
Example#6
“The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame
“The river was as wide as the canyon, and on the other side lay a green country that was beautiful and still…”
(Chapter 1)
Graeme describes the river in terms of the width of a canyon capable of reflecting the beauty of the surrounding country and he personifies the river.
Though not explicitly assigning human emotions to the river, it gives the river grandeur, and majesty — things often applied to human notions of vastness and serenity.
The subtle personification is crucial to the anthropomorphic animal characters’ adventures in the story, because it make things enchanting and inviting.
Example#7
“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us.”
(Chapter 10)
In the passage, the author personifies mockingbirds with the purposeful actions and intentions of making music and singing “their hearts out”. This personification adds to the symbolic meaning of the mockingbird in the novel, which represents innocence and the idea of causing no harm.
Lee exaggerates the unjust persecution of innocent characters by endowing the birds with human like qualities, thus drawing moral lesson for the readers.
Example#8
“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“The moon had risen higher, and floating in the Sound was a triangle of silver scales…”
(Chapter 5)
The writer describes the moon as rising “higher” and floating with “silver scales”. It personifies the moon to be like elegance and grace. The use of personification adds to the romantic and delicates atmosphere of the reunion of Gatsby and Daisy.
Fitzgerald makes the moon gracious and almost magical to indicate the dreamy character of the relationship and the charm Gatsby has on Daisy, giving the scene a symbolic character.
Importance of Personification
In literature, personification is of paramount significance because it brings abstract concepts and inanimate things into being in a way that readers can associate with emotionally. This technique imparts depth to the narrative setting the mood, the tone and themes.
The author can extend human qualities to nature or the objects to express their complex emotions and themes in an indirect form, which could be relatable and memorable.
Through personification, readers are able to view the world in a new way. It adds depth and significance to thee experiences of the readers by becoming more poignant.
Related Literary Terms
1- Anthropomorphism
Personification is closely related to anthropomorphism, but rather than just endowing animals, objects, or deities with human characteristics, anthropomorphism entails the successful attribution of these qualities. One can actually believe a being of a different form truly acts like a person.
Example: In “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, the White Rabbit talks, wears clothes and interacts with Alice like humans. Unlike personification, which attributes individual qualities, anthropomorphism turns animals or objects into fully realized human characters.
2- Pathetic Fallacy
The kind of personification where human emotions are attributed to nature and the weather. This reflect the mood of the characters or the narrative.
Example: In “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë, the gloomy and stormy weather reflects Jane’s inner turbulence, particularly during challenging or sad moments in her life. This technique emphasizes the character’s feelings by making nature appear empathetic.
See also: Examples of Persona in Literature
