Is personification a word

This article is about the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person. For the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities, see Anthropomorphism.

Personification is the representation of a thing or abstraction as a person. In the arts, many things are commonly personified. These include numerous types of places, especially cities, countries, and continents, elements of the natural world such as the months or four seasons, four elements,^[1] four cardinal winds, five senses,^[2] and abstractions such as virtues, especially the four cardinal virtues and seven deadly sins,^[3] the nine Muses,^[4] or death.

In many polytheistic early religions, deities had a strong element of personification, suggested by descriptions such as «god of». In ancient Greek religion, and the related ancient Roman religion, this was perhaps especially strong, in particular among the minor deities.^[5] Many such deities, such as the tyches or tutelary deities for major cities, survived the arrival of Christianity, now as symbolic personifications stripped of religious significance. An exception was the winged goddess of victory, Victoria/Nike, who developed into the visualisation of the Christian angel.^[6]

Generally, personifications lack much in the way of narrative myths, although classical myth at least gave many of them parents among the major Olympian deities.^[7] The iconography of several personifications «maintained a remarkable degree of continuity from late antiquity until the 18th century».^[8] Female personifications tend to outnumber male ones,^[9] at least until modern national personifications, many of which are male.

Personifications are very common elements in allegory, and historians and theorists of personification complain that the two have been too often confused, or discussion of them dominated by allegory. Single images of personifications tend to be titled as an «allegory», arguably incorrectly.^[10] By the late 20th century personification seemed largely out of fashion, but the semi-personificatory superhero figures of many comic book series came in the 21st century to dominate popular cinema in a number of superhero film franchises.

According to Ernst Gombrich, «we tend to take it for granted rather than to ask questions about this extraordinary predominantly feminine population which greets us from the porches of cathedrals, crowds around our public monuments, marks our coins and our banknotes, and turns up in our cartoons and our posters; these females variously attired, of course, came to life on the medieval stage, they greeted the Prince on his entry into a city, they were invoked in innumerable speeches, they quarrelled or embraced in endless epics where they struggled for the soul of the hero or set the action going, and when the medieval versifier went out on one fine spring morning and lay down on a grassy bank, one of these ladies rarely failed to appear to him in his sleep and to explain her own nature to him in any number of lines».^[11]

History[edit]

Classical world[edit]

Personification as an artistic device is easier to discuss when belief in the personification as an actual spiritual being has died down;^[12] this seems to have happened in the ancient Graeco-Roman world, probably even before Christianisation.^[13] In other cultures, especially Hinduism and Buddhism, many personification figures still retain their religious significance, which is why they are not covered here. For example Bharat Mata was devised as a Hindu goddess figure to act as a national personification by intellectuals in the Indian independence movement from the 1870s, but now has some actual Hindu temples.^[14]

Personification is found very widely in classical literature, art and drama, as well as the treatment of personifications as relatively minor deities, or the rather variable category of daemons.^[15] In classical Athens, every geographical division of the state for local government purposes had a personified deity which received some cultic attention, as well as Demos, a male personification for the governing assembly of free citizens, and Boule, a female one for the ruling council. These appear in art, but are often hard to identify if not labelled.^[16]

Personification in the Bible is mostly limited to passing phrases which can probably be regarded as literary flourishes,^[17] with the important and much-discussed exception of Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs, 1–9, where a female personification is treated at some length, and makes speeches.^[18] The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation can be regarded as personification figures, although the text does not specify what all personify.^[19]

According to James J. Paxson in his book on the subject «all personification figures prior to the sixth century A.D. were … female»;^[20] but major rivers have male personifications much earlier, and are more often male, which often extends to «Water» in the Four Elements.^[21] The predominance of females is at least partly because Latin grammar gives nouns for abstractions the female gender.^[22]

Pairs of winged victories decorated the spandrels of Roman triumphal arches and similar spaces, and ancient Roman coinage was an especially rich source of images, many carrying their name, which was helpful for medieval and Renaissance antiquarians. Sets of tyches representing the major cities of the empire were used in the decorative arts.^[23] Most imaginable virtues and virtually every Roman province was personified on coins at some point, the provinces often initially seated dejected as «CAPTA» («taken») after its conquest, and later standing, creating images such as Britannia that were often revived in the Renaissance or later.^[24]

Lucian (2nd century AD) records a detailed description of a lost painting by Apelles (4th century BC) called the Calumny of Apelles, which some Renaissance painters followed, most famously Botticelli. This included eight personifications of virtues and vices: Hope, Repentance, Perfidy, Calumny, Fraud, Rancour, Ignorance, Suspicion, as well as two other figures.^[25]

Platonism, which in some manifestations proposed systems involving numbers of spirits,^[26] was naturally conducive to personification and allegory, and is an influence on the uses of it from classical times through various revivals up to the Baroque period.

Literature[edit]

According to Andrew Escobedo, “literary personification marshalls inanimate things, such as passions, abstract ideas, and rivers, and makes them perform actions in the landscape of the narrative.”^[27] He dates “the rise and fall of its [personification’s] literary popularity” to «roughly, between the fifth and seventeenth centuries».^[28] Late antique philosophical books that made heavy use of personification and were specially influential in the Middle Ages included the Psychomachia of Prudentius (early 5th century), with an elaborate plot centred around battles between the virtues and vices,^[29] and The Consolation of Philosophy (c. 524) by Boethius, which takes the form of a dialogue between the author and «Lady Philosophy». Fortuna and the Wheel of Fortune were prominent and memorable in this, which helped to make the latter a favourite medieval trope.^[30] Both authors were Christians, and the origins in the pagan classical religions of the standard range of personifications had been left well behind.

A medieval creation was the Four Daughters of God, a shortened group of virtues consisting of: Truth, Righteousness or Justice, Mercy, and Peace. There were also the seven virtues, made up of the four classical cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and courage (or fortitude), these going back to Plato’s Republic, with the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. The seven deadly sins were their counterparts.^[31]

The major works of Middle English literature had many personification characters, and often formed what are called «personification allegories» where the whole work is an allegory, largely driven by personifications. These include Piers Plowman by William Langland ( c. 1370–90), where most of the characters are clear personifications named as their qualities,^[32] and several works by Geoffrey Chaucer, such as The House of Fame (1379–80). However, Chaucer tends to take his personifications in the direction of being more complex characters and give them different names, as when he adapts part of the French Roman de la Rose (13th century). The English mystery plays and the later morality plays have many personifications as characters, alongside their biblical figures. Frau Minne, the spirit of courtly love in German medieval literature, had equivalents in other vernaculars.

In Italian literature Petrach’s Triomphi, finished in 1374, is based around a procession of personifications carried on «cars», as was becoming fashionable in courtly festivities; it was illustrated by many different artists.^[33] Dante has several personification characters, but prefers using real persons to represent most sins and virtues.^[34]

In Elizabethan literature many of the characters in Edmund Spenser’s enormous epic The Faerie Queene, though given different names, are effectively personifications, especially of virtues.^[35] The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) by John Bunyan was the last great personification allegory in English literature, from a strongly Protestant position (though see Thomson’s Liberty below). A work like Shelley’s The Triumph of Life, unfinished at his death in 1822, which to many earlier writers would have called for personifications to be included, avoids them, as does most Romantic literature,^[36] apart from that of William Blake.^[37] Leading critics had begun to complain about personification in the 18th century, and such «complaints only grow louder in the nineteenth century».^[38] According to Andrew Escobedo, there is now «an unstated scholarly consensus» that «personification is a kind of frozen or hollow version of literal characters», which «depletes the fiction».^[39]

Visual arts[edit]

Personifications, often in sets, frequently appear in medieval art, often illustrating or following literary works. The virtues and vices were probably the most common, and the virtues appear in many large sculptural programmes, for example the exteriors of Chartres Cathedral and Amiens Cathedral. In painting, both virtues and vices are personified along the lowest zone of the walls of the Scrovegni Chapel by Giotto (c. 1305),^[40] and are the main figures in Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Allegory of Good and Bad Government (1338–39) in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena. In the Allegory of Bad Government Tyranny is enthroned, with Avarice, Pride, and Vainglory above him. Beside him on the magistrate’s bench sit Cruelty, Deceit, Fraud, Fury, Division, and War, while Justice lies tightly bound below.^[41] The so-called Mantegna Tarocchi (c. 1465–75) are sets of fifty educational cards depicting personifications of social classes, the planets and heavenly bodies, and also social classes.^[42]

A new pair, once common on the portals of large churches, are Ecclesia and Synagoga.^[43] Death envisaged as a skeleton, often with a scythe and hour-glass, is a late medieval innovation, that became very common after the Black Death. However, it is rarely seen in funerary art «before the Counter-Reformation».^[44]

When not illustrating literary texts, or following a classical model as Botticelli does, personifications in art tend to be relatively static, and found together in sets, whether of statues decorating buildings or paintings, prints or media such as porcelain figures. Sometimes one or more virtues take on and invariably conquer vices. Other paintings by Botticelli are exceptions to such simple compositions, in particular his Primavera and The Birth of Venus, in both of which several figures form complex allegories.^[45] An unusually powerful single personification figure is depicted in Melencolia I (1514) an engraving by Albrecht Dürer.^[46] Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time (c. 1545) by Agnolo Bronzino has five personifications, apart from Venus and Cupid.^[47] In all these cases, the meaning of the work remains uncertain, despite intensive academic discussion, and even the identity of the figures continues to be argued over.^[48]

Theory[edit]

Around 300 BC, Demetrius of Phalerum is the first writer on rhetoric to describe prosopopoeia, which was already a well-established device in rhetoric and literature, from Homer onwards.^[49] Quintilian’s lengthy Institutio Oratoria gives a comprehensive account, and a taxonomy of common personifications; no more comprehensive account was written until after the Renaissance.^[50] The main Renaissance humanists to deal with the subject at length were Erasmus in his De copia and Petrus Mosellanus in Tabulae de schematibus et tropis, who were copied by other writers throughout the 16th century.^[51]

From the late 16th century theoretical writers such as Karel van Mander in his Schilder-boeck (1604) began to treat personification in terms of the visual arts. At the same time the emblem book, describing and illustrating emblematic images that were largely personifications, became enormously popular, both with intellectuals and artists and craftsmen looking for motifs.^[52] The most famous of these was the Iconologia of Cesare Ripa, first published unillustrated in 1593, but from 1603 published in many different illustrated editions, using different artists. This set at least the identifying attributes carried by many personifications until the 19th century.^[53]

From the 20th century into the 21st, the past use of personification has received greatly increased critical attention, just as the artistic practice of it has greatly declined. Among a number of key works, The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition (1936), by C. S. Lewis was an exploration of courtly love in medieval and Renaissance literature.^[54]

Innovation[edit]

The classical repertoire of virtues, seasons, cities and so forth supplied the majority of subjects until the 19th century, but some new personifications became required. The 16th century saw the new personification of the Americas, and made the four continents an appealing new set, four figures being better suited to many contexts than three. The 18th-century discovery of Australia was not so quickly followed by an addition to the set, if only for reasons of geometry; Australia is not included in the continents at the corners of the Albert Memorial (1860s). This does have a set of three-figure groups representing agriculture, commerce, engineering and manufacturing, typical of the requirements for large public schemes of the period.^[55] A rather late example is the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City (1901–07), which has large groups for the four continents by the entrance, and 12 figures personifying seafaring nations from history high on the facade.

The invention of movable type printing saw Dame Imprimerie («Lady Printing Press») introduced to the pageants of Lyons, a major printing centre, along with «Typosine», a new muse of printing.^[56] A large gilt-bronze statue by Evelyn Beatrice Longman, something of a specialist in «allegorical» statues, was commissioned by AT&T for the top of their New York headquarters. Since 1916 it has been titled at different times as the Genius of Telegraphy, Genius of Electricity, and since the 1930s Spirit of Communication. Shakespeare’s spirit Ariel was adopted by the sculptor Eric Gill as a personification of broadcasting, and features in his sculptures on Broadcasting House in London (opened 1932).^[57]

National personifications[edit]

A number of national personifications stick to the old formulas, with a female in classical dress, carrying attributes suggesting power, wealth, or other virtues.^[58]

Libertas, the Roman goddess of liberty, had been important under the Roman Republic, and was somewhat uncomfortably co-opted by the empire;^[59] it was not seen as an innate right, but as granted to some under Roman law.^[60] She had appeared on the coins of the assassins of Julius Caesar, defenders of the Roman republic. The medieval republics, mostly in Italy, greatly valued their liberty, and often use the word, but produce very few direct personifications. With the rise of nationalism and new states, many nationalist personifications included a strong element of liberty, perhaps culminating in the Statue of Liberty. The long poem Liberty by the Scottish James Thomson (1734), is a lengthy monologue spoken by the «Goddess of Liberty», describing her travels through the ancient world, and then English and British history, before the resolution of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 confirms her position there.^[61] Thomson also wrote the lyrics for Rule Britannia, and the two personifications were often combined as a personified «British Liberty»,^[62] to whom a large monument was erected in the 1750s on his estate at Gibside by a Whig magnate.^[63]

But, sometimes alongside these formal figures, a new type of national personification has arisen, typified by John Bull (1712) and Uncle Sam (c. 1812). Both began as figures in more or less satirical literature, but achieved their prominence when taken in to political cartoons and other visual media. The post-revolutionary Marianne in France, official since 1792, is something of a mixture of styles, sometimes formal and classical, at others a woman of the streets of Paris personified.^[64] The Dutch Maiden is one of the earliest of these figures, and was mainly visual from the start, her efforts to repulse unwelcome Spanish advances shown in 16th-century popular prints.^[65]

See also[edit]

• Anthropomorphism
• Allegorical sculpture
• Heraldry
• Mascot
• Moe anthropomorphism; personification style mainly used in anime and manga
• Pathetic fallacy, the literary device involving ascribing human emotion and conduct to non-human objects in the natural world
• Tropical cyclone naming

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Bartrum, Giulia, Albrecht Dürer and his Legacy, British Museum Press, 2002, ISBN 0714126330
• Escobedo, Andrew, Volition’s Face: Personification and the Will in Renaissance Literature, 2017, University of Notre Dame Press, ISBN 0268101698, 9780268101695, google books
• Gombrich, Ernst, «Personification», in R. R. Bolgar (ed.), Classical Influences in European Culture AD 500–1500, 1971, Cambridge UP, PDF
• Hall, James, Hall’s Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, 1996 (2nd edn.), John Murray, ISBN 0719541476
• Hartt, Frederick, History of Italian Renaissance Art, (2nd edn.)1987, Thames & Hudson (US Harry N Abrams), ISBN 0500235104
• Heuer, Jennifer, «Gender and Nationalism» in Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview, Eds Guntram H. Herb, David H. Kaplan, 2008, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 1851099085, 9781851099085, google books
• Higham, John (1990). «Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America», Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. 100: 50–51, JSTOR or PDF
• Melion, Walter, Remakers, Bart, Personification: Embodying Meaning and Emotion, 2016, BRILL, ISBN 9004310436, 9789004310438, google books
• Paxson, James J., The Poetics of Personification, 1994, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521445396, 9780521445399, google books
• Sear, David, Roman Coins and Their Values, Volume 2, 46–48, 49–51, 2002, Spink & Son, Ltd, ISBN 1912667231, 9781912667239, google books
• Smith, Amy C., Polis and Personification in Classical Athenian Art, 2011, BRILL, ISBN 9004194177, 9789004194175, google books

Further reading[edit]

• Jennifer O’Reilly: Studies in the Iconography of the Virtues and Vices in the Middle Ages. New York/London 1988.
• Emma Stafford: Worshipping virtues. Personification and the Divine in Ancient Greece. London 2000.
• Emma Stafford, Judith Herrin (eds.): Personification in the Greek world. From Antiquity to Byzantium. Aldershot/Hampshire 2005.
• Tucker, Shawn R., The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook, 2015, Wipf and Stock Publishers, ISBN 1625647182, 9781625647184

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

person(ify) +‎ -ification.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /pɚˌsɑ.nə.fəˈkeɪ.ʃən/
• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun[edit]

personification (countable and uncountable, plural personifications)

1. A person, thing or name typifying a certain quality or idea; an embodiment or exemplification.

   Adolf Hitler was the personification of anti-Semitism.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 12:

     He might have sat for a personification of fear: if he moved, he seemed rather afraid of his own shadow following him too closely; if he laughed, he soon checked himself, quite alarmed at the sound.

2. A literary device in which an inanimate object or an idea is given human qualities.

   The writer used personification to convey her ideas.

3. An artistic representation of an abstract quality as a human

   The Grim Reaper is a personification of death.

Coordinate terms[edit]

• anthropomorphism
• humanization
• prosopopoeia

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

• pathetic fallacy

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:

Titles

• “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)

Quotes

•    “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.

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 personifies 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.

This example uses personification to provide imagery for the wind’s effect on the tree. The wind cannot literally dance, as a human can. Therefore, the phrase is figurative and the wind is personified.

Personification Example

• 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.

Personification Example

• 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.

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

Writers utilize personification for effect. Applying human characteristics to non-human things gives those things particular qualities that they would otherwise lack.

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.

Summary

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.

Contents

• 1 What Does Personification Mean?
• 2 Modern Examples of Personification
• 3 The Importance and Function of Personification
• 4 Examples of Personification in Literature
• 5 What Does Personified Mean?
• 6 Summary

The use of figurative language will help you give a different meaning to a word outside the literal one. Personification is a commonly used figurative language that can make your writing more creative. Personification can be used in creative writing to describe scenes and indirectly express feelings. In this article, we have put together all the essential information about personification including its definition, common examples, its significance, etc.

• What is Personification?
• Personification Examples
• Importance of Personification
• Anthropomorphism Vs Personification
• What is personification?
• Give examples of Personification?
• Distinguish between Personification and Anthropomorphism?
• What is the significance of using personification?

What is Personification?

Personification is a figure of speech that makes use of human traits to describe inanimate objects. Personification can be considered as a type of metaphor. This figure of speech is used to create more interesting and engaging scenes or characters.

Personification Examples

Personification is a commonly used stylistic device. Given below is a list of examples of personification.

• When fall changed to winter, the trees could be seen as wearing white.
• The brown grass was begging for water.
• Our society needs strong leaders.
• The sunflowers nodded in the wind.
• My piano is of pretty good manners but he can make them sound rude.
• The traffic noises fought long.
• The angry storm pounded the tin shelter.
• A school of rainbow trout swam across the river.
• The silence crept into the classroom.
• This city never sleeps.
• The sun stretched its golden arms and spread light
• I wanted some money, but the ATM died.
• This essay says that turnip is good for you.
• Unfortunately, when she stepped out, 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 am not able to get my calendar to work for me.
• This advertisement speaks to me
• My alarm yelled at me this morning.
• I love onions, but they don’t love me.
• The sign on the door insulted me.
• My phone is not happy with me today.
• That bus is driving too fast.
• My computer works very hard.
• However, the mail is running too slow today.
• Fear seized the patient at the time of surgery
• The cupboard groans when you open it.
• Can you see that star winking at you?
• Books reach out to kids.

Explore our other Literary Devices to improve your knowledge of Grammar Concepts and get a grip in the language.

Importance of Personification

The use of personification has several benefits. These include:

• Helps you to better explain concepts and ideas.
• Provides energy and emotion to otherwise lifeless scenes.
• Helps express characters’ feelings and emotions.

Anthropomorphism Vs Personification

Just like personification, anthropomorphism gives human characteristics to objects or animals. It can be considered as a kind of personification. Animals or objects are described as real people with abilities. Hence anthropomorphism is stronger than simple personification.

Read More:

• Metonymy
• Paradox
• Understatement

FAQs on Personification

1. What is personification?

Personification can be considered as a type of metaphor that makes use of human traits to describe inanimate objects.

2. Give examples of Personification?

Common examples of personification include: In addition, the storm trampled the town, I can’t get my calendar to work for me, This advertisement speaks to me, etc.

3. Distinguish between Personification and Anthropomorphism?

Like personification, anthropomorphism gives human characteristics to objects or animals. Animals or objects are described as real people with abilities. Hence anthropomorphism is stronger than simple personification.

4. What is the significance of using personification?

The use of personification has the following advantages: Helps you to better explain concepts and ideas, provides energy and emotion to otherwise lifeless scenes, and helps express characters’ feelings and emotions.

Conclusion

As a stylistic device, personification is used to assign human attributes to inanimate objects. The main function of this figure of speech is to breathe life into inanimate objects or characters. The use of personification will make your writing vivid and have the reader’s attention to what you write. So make sure you include personification and grab the reader’s attention!

Personification is a variety of
metaphor, attributing human properties to lifeless objects, mostly
to abstract notions such as thoughts, intentions, emotions, seasons
of the year, or animals.

Personification
is often represented grammatically by the choice of masculine or
feminine pronouns for the names of inanimate objects, or by
capitalization of these words.

Personification The sun shone brightly down on me as if she was shining for me alone.

Personifications are most often
used in poetry.

Personification in poetry Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are! (Jane Taylor) No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feet. (Byron) How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wings my three and twentieth year! (Milton)

4. Allusion

Allusion is a special variety of
metaphor, an indirect reference to some historical or literary fact
commonly known. The frequently used sources for allusions are the
Bible and mythology. The effect of allusion can be achieved only if
facts alluded to are known to the reader.

Allusion Пить или не пить (Быть или не быть) The United Colors of Benetton (The United States of America) Чайник закипает, Чашечка блестит, Муха на варенье В гости к нам летит. Twinkle, twinkle, little bat, How I wonder what you’re at! Up above the world you fly Like a tea-tray in the sky! Травка зеленеет, Солнышко блестит Ласточка весною В сени к нам летит. (А.Н. Плещеев) Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are Up above the world so high Like a diamond in the sky. (Jane Taylor)

5. Metonymy

Metonymy
is based on contiguity of notions, not on resemblance. It is
applying the name of an object to another object in some way
connected with the first one. There is an objectively existing
relationship between the object named and the object implied.

Metonymy The kettle is boiling. The gallery applauded. Вся школа пришла на собрание. Силы порядка пришли и арестовали преступника.

Metonymic relations are varied
in character:

1) the result may stand for
the cause
(The
fish desperately takes the death);

2) the cause may stand for
the result
(The
writer lives by his pen only);

3) a symbol may stand for
an object signified
(“brain
drain”);

4) a characteristic feature
may stand for its bearer
(She
turned round and took a long look at her grandmother’s blackness);

5) the instrument may
stands for the action
(Countrymen,
give me your ears!);

6) the container may stand
for the thing contained or vise versa
(The
kettle boils);

7) an abstract noun may
stand for a concrete noun
(Labour
demonstrated in the streets);

the material may stand for
the thing made of it (There
was a shower of steel on the trenches);

9) the name of the creator
may stand for his creation
(We
bougnt two Rembrands).

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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.

• ❤️ ALLITERATION
• ❤️ IDIOMS
• ❤️ METAPHORS

• ❤️ ONOMATOPOEIA
• ❤️ PERSONIFICATION
• ❤️ SIMILES

 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!

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The content for this page has been written by Shane Mac Donnchaidh.  A former principal of an international school and English university lecturer with 15 years of teaching and administration experience. Shane’s latest Book, The Complete Guide to Nonfiction Writing, can be found here.  Editing and support for this article have been provided by the literacyideas team.

Can real people personify abstract concepts?

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 “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” 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.
• Personification on Vimeo and Youtube:
  • An entertaining video collage about the difference between anthropomorphism and personification.
  • A recording of the Beatles rehearsing «Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.»