Have you ever heard stories that leapt out of pages? The reasons may be personifications. That first sentence that we have read was actually a personification. Personification has a tremendously important literary application in both sophisticated literary texts and everyday language. This article provides a very simple definition and shows how authors and filmmakers use figurative language.
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Personification definition
Can we define personification? This is a very simple and straightforward description: a personification is a form of metaphor in which the nonhuman (object or an abstract idea) is described to have human characteristics, human behaviours or human emotions. The notion that rain is indifferent is a personification because rain is indifferent to humans. But to say that rain feels unattractive poetically highlights the cruelness of the rain.
Writing Personification
Personification in itself is a tool to create images for the readers to connect the animate and the inanimate object in a literary context. Personification allows the author to communicate meaning with creativity or poetry.
Personification is a literary device that involves giving human characteristics (or human traits) to non-human beings or objects. personification is often used in poetry and literature to create vivid images and to help readers understand complex concepts. Some common examples of personification include:
- The sun smiled down on me.
- The wind whispered through the trees.
- The stars danced across the sky.
- My heart aches for you.
- Time flies when I’m with you.
- The clouds cried tears of rain.
Personification can also be used in more everyday speech, such as:
- Keep an eye on the clock – it’s ticking away!
- That little voice in your head is telling you to take a break.
- This project is killing me!
As you can see, personification can be used in a variety of ways to add interest and depth to writing to better explain concepts and ideas. It’s a powerful tool that can help readers engage with text on a more personal level.
How to use Personification?
In literature, a literary device is a technique that produces a particular effect in writing. A literary device can be used to construct meaning, evoke emotion, create suspense, or simply add atmosphere. Some literary devices are specific to certain genres, while others can be employed in any type of writing. Some of the most common literary devices include similes, metaphors, and allegories.
Personification has its greatest potential to be sought. The writing has to think first about the image that the author wants, and craft a sentence accordingly for it. Picture this scenario: It’s an enjoyable day, Jack loves to go outdoors and enjoys doing this. These descriptions are functional but they are not vivid. Personification paints a compelling picture showing how Jack feels attracted by the idea.
Few examples of personification in literature
This article lists examples of objects possessing human characteristics (or humanisation) from famous literature: Diana was alone in the haunted wood and it is lovely in the woods now. All the tiny wood stuff— the ferns and the satin leaf and the crackersberries— have disappeared from our tree. I’m sure that singing the flute and dancing would be a big crowd. Is he right that our calm English home was suddenly infuriated by evil spirits?
Famous personification examples
Have you seen anyone who famously personifies someone? Below can be found many well respected titles and quotes about a speech figure: Title Quoted.
Examples of Personification in Music
Musicians often employ personifications in song lyrics in a similar manner as composing a literary text can achieve. But musicians whose lyrics appear below do not just give human qualities to nonhuman entities, they describe them as complete individuals. In the following examples the artist is permitted to remove the true identity of what the song describes. Sometimes the musician might want to mask the significance to try to match a language or listener’s expectation.
Personification in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse
A light is erected in a summer home on an island called Skye off the Scottish coast. Part One describes the summer events the family spend inside the residence, while Part 2 describes a season when families can’t go home. Woolf describes the summer home in his absence in the examples of Part 2, section 2. Only by rusted hinges and swollen sea mossy woodwork the wind escaped the air from inside and went outside.
Personification in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
In the next passage in Act 2, scene 2 Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s Garden and spots her on the balcony Is the light in the window broken? Its East and Juliet has sunshine. Rise sun, kill moon, whose sickness has begun, And her maid is a lot more fair than her. Don’t take your maid to her because her eyes are envious. Romeo compares Juliet to the sun and describes the moon as jealous of Juliet.
Personification in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea
The Oldman and the Sea – a true story from the unfortunate fishing man of Santiago. Santiago was unable to catch any fish 84 days later. 86th day, he captures a dolphin (not a marine mammal) to eat at a nearby restaurant. Just before darkness, as they passed the island of Sargasso, weed is heaved and raised.
Personification in The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”
Although it has been debated as to the lyrics’ true meaning the song is widely seen as referenced to LSD a psychedelic drug. If “Light in the Sky with Diamonds” actually references LSD then this is a very effective example of personification: Imagine yourself in a river boat.
Personification in Kanye West’s “Homecoming”
In his graduation in 2007 “Homecoming” — an ode to his hometown Chicago — whose hometown he grew up. Instead of lauding Chicago directly the singers portray the town as though they were a girl named Windy – reference to ‘the Windy City.. ‘
Tell me the purpose of personification?
The best authors know the power it gives us to create believable works that can only come to life with an actual description of their story. Personification makes your writing vivid and unique, and helps the reader understand it more clearly and effectively. Humanification and anthropomorphism played important roles throughout a century, as fables and mythologies are bursting with examples of human characteristics. Personifying objects also gives their descriptions an additional weight as a way to explain nature’s forces. Comparable to one other phrase:
Personifying a non-human entity as a complete person
Personification involves generally conferring an individual human attribute to something other than human nature. Some personifications involve non human things as if it were an entire person who had numerous human qualities.
Personifying animals
In personifying animal parts you might give them human attributes like a feeling or action. In some instances personification might be transferred into a literary method called anthropomorphisme. FREE Courses on selling books and distributing ebooks Get a quick and simple way to become a full-time writer. The most important differentiation is personification which reflects characteristics of animals by making images of them. The animal is unable to act as humans, however the writers personified descriptions. It gives them a life. A deer walking or leapping through fields does not constitute personification because the deer does the right things.
Personifying an Abstract Quality or Idea
Personifications are also used to describe abstract qualities and ideas. The idea of hope is typically said to be: “The woman’s statement sparked the confidence that sang in my heart”. Personification has been described as an abstraction in which an individual is able to embody an abstract value and embodied in the world. She represents an absolute personifying force of creativity – a personified creativity.
Personifying inanimate objects
In personification of inanimate objects, a person uses verb to describe actions performed by human beings or adjectives usually reserved for humans. Some people may attribute feelings, emotions and motives to objects they haven’t experienced. When one uses the phrase “wind moans“, one can also describe the wind’s vibration and the human capacity for bemused feelings.
What is an example of personification in poetry?
Symbolic speech in which a poet describes something as if they were human, or an abstraction. William Blake – O Rose!
Does Harry Potter have personification?
Because personification mainly thrives from readers’ imagination Rowling used this figure of speech to bring a Harry Potter story alive in an effective way.
How do you find personification in a book?
The personification process occurs when the writer gives an animal the characteristics of human beings. Imagine Wind acting as though he were human beings. Talking winds represent personifications of the world. Use these picture book examples as a mentor for teaching children about personification.
What is an example of personification poem?
Hey Diddle by Mother Goose personification created in the poem “Hello Diddle” by Mother Goose creating silly pictures.
Personification and Pathetic Fallacy
It is believed by many British critics as a pathetic fallacy or “emotional falseness“. The expression describes Romantic poetry’s tendency to identify human behavior or emotion with inanimate objects by critics who say there are “false” perceptions influenced by emotion. For example, grief can lead a person to view cloudy grey skies as mournless, indifferent and possibly just darker than in reality. Ruskin says sentimentally this affects the way people perceive themselves. Modern thinking on pathetic fallacy has a different definition.
Personification and Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism relates a figurative process to personification. Neither of these gifts is human. Anthropomorphism is also an issue of character. It mixes the human spirit and something not human in the same way. An anthropomorphized object or animal behaves like humans, but possesses human physical qualities. Characters with anthropomorphic abilities are often capable of speaking with a double hand, experiencing nuance, and developing a complex relationship. Some Disney films demonstrate anthropomorphism. Talking about the housewares in this house.
Test Yourself on Identifying Personification
How can you find personified verbs?
