personification examples for creative writing

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

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 personification and what are some examples of personification? 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 improve your writing skills and take your book or novel 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 the definition of personification, then dive into some personification examples, and lastly, end with a step by step guide. 

This Guide to Personification Examples Will Cover:

What is personification.

What is personification? Personification is a literary device that emphasizes a non-human’s characteristics by describing them with human attributes.

• The dog yipped with joy and a hint of a grin on his face
• The tree swayed in the wind, happily dancing along
• 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 tense grip of cold? The spiteful bite of wind? The loving caress of a warm, gentle wave on the shore? These are personification examples in writing. 

When it comes to examples of personification 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 25 examples of personification that will help you form a better understanding of this literary device .

25 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.

11. Jane Eyre , Charlotte Brontë

“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.”

This is one of the great personification examples in literature. In Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre , the wine sweeps, trembles, and wanders like a person.

12. The Odyssey , Homer

“The ship danced over the waves, eager to return to Ithaca.”

In this personification example from The Odyssey , the waves dance and are eager, giving them human-like qualities.

13. Animal Farm , George Orwell

“The windmill loomed over the farm, its blades turning with a relentless determination …”

In Animal Farm , we see personification when the windmill is determined and looming over the farm.

14. Fahrenheit 451 , Ray Bradbury

“The fire’s fingers reached out, devouring the pages of the forbidden books.”

Fahrenheit 451 personifies fire by giving it fingers and allowing it to devour things.

15. Wuthering Heights , Emily Brontë

“The moors sighed with the weight of the secrets they held, whispering tales of love and revenge.”

Wuthering Heights makes the moors a main character in the story by giving them the ability to hold secrets and sigh.

16. The Hunger Games , Suzanne Collins

“The sun persists in rising, so I make myself stand.”

In The Hunger Games , we see personification when the sun is persisting in its action, as if it has the choice to do so.

17. Romeo and Juliet , William Shakespeare

“Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon / Who is already sick and pale with grief …”

Here we have two personification examples in the sun and the moon. The moon is sick with grief and the sun has the ability to kill.

18. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire , J.K. Rowling

“The Triwizard Cup is waiting. It is waiting for you.”

When our favorite wizarding student enters his fourth year at Hogwarts, we are told that the Triwizard Cup is waiting for him as if it isn’t an inanimate object.

19. Hey Diddle, Diddle , Mother Goose

“Hey, Diddle, Diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon;

The little dog laughed

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away with the spoon.”

Not all personification examples come from fine literature. Nursery rhymes and poetry are full of this literary device as well! Here, the dish and the spoon run away together, making them seem very human, indeed.

20. Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room , William Blake

“Ah, William, we’re weary of weather,”

said the sunflowers, shining with dew.

“Our traveling habits have tired us.

Can you give us a room with a view?”

In William Blakes poem, sunflowers are able to talk and have human emotions.

21. Magdalen Walks , Oscar Wilde

“And the plane to the pine-tree is whispering some tale of love

Till it rustles with laughter and tosses its mantle of green,”

In this poem, the plane whispers and the tree laughs, giving them human actions and qualities.

22. Mirror , Sylvia Plath

“I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.

Whatever I see I swallow immediately

Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.

I am not cruel, only truthful,”

Here the mirror is personified because it is given a full monologue and it is able to swallow.

23. A Miracle to Behold , Patricia A Flemming

“Seagulls soar above her surf,

The sun reflects and gleams,

While people come from miles around

To stroll upon her beach.”

Here the ocean is called a “her,” which is one of the most subtle and simple personification examples possible.

24. Eight Balloons , Shel Silverstein

“Eight balloons no one was buyin’,

All broke loose one afternoon.

Eight balloons with strings a-flyin’,

Free to do what they wanted to.”

Shel Silverstein personifies balloons by giving them wants and whims.

25. The Raven , Edgar Allen Poe

“And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before.”

Poe is a master of personification. Here the curtains are sad and uncertain.

Now that you’ve seen some personification examples in literature and poetry, 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!

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Personification

Definition of personification, common examples of personification, examples of personification in speech or writing, famous personification examples, difference between personification and anthropomorphism.

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.

Writing Personification

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

Create humor, 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.

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.

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.

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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

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Personification: What Is It and Why Should You Use It?

“Personification” is a figure of speech. It’s an effective way of making your writing more engaging. Below, we’ll dive into what exactly “personification” is and why you should include it in creative writing.

What Does Personification Mean?

• Personification is a figure of speech in which human qualities and abilities are applied to nonhuman objects or ideas.

Understanding Personification

Here’s an excerpt from a poem called “Whatif” by Shel Silverstein:

Last night, while I lay thinking here, Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear And pranced and partied all night long And sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I’m dumb in school? Whatif they’ve closed the swimming pool? Whatif I get beat up? Whatif there’s poison in my cup? Whatif I start to cry? Whatif I get sick and die? Do you notice anything special about this poem?

Shel Silverstein artfully personifies those late-night thoughts we all experience. This means he wrote about those “what if” thoughts as if they were human— “…crawled inside my ear and pranced and partied all night long.”

Want to learn more about this literary device ? This blog post will bring you a plateful of knowledge on personification.

Personification: What Does It Mean?

When something is personified, it means it is talked or written about as if it were a person. Put another way, personification is a literary device (a type of metaphor) in which human characteristics are figuratively applied to inanimate objects or abstractions.

The jazz hummed lightly into my ear, took me by the hand, and danced with me.

In the example above, jazz is personified. It’s written about as if it were a person taking someone by the hand to dance. Obviously, jazz cannot literally do that. But writing about it as if it can helps the audience better visualize and relate to the scene. In this case, personification helps show that someone was dancing to (and enjoying) the jazz music.

Why Use Personification?

Using personification is a fantastic way to write a more engaging, fun, and descriptive piece. By relating a non-human object or idea to a human, readers can better connect to and imagine what you’re writing about. Consider the following examples:

Love is confusing. I was lost.

Love blindfolded me, spun me around over and over again, and released me in a place I had never been to before—I was lost.

Which sentence better represents or shows someone who is love struck? Chances are you’ll choose the second one. Writing about love and giving it human abilities allows you to write things like “it blindfolded me, spun me around over and over again, and released me in a place I’ve never been to before.”

Compared to the first example, the second one is more dramatic and tangible. This is why so many creative writers use personification. It’s also the reason so many companies use personification in their branding—it’s effective. We’ll give you a few more examples of personification below.

Examples of Personification

Personification is quite ubiquitous, even if you don’t notice it. Here are a few examples of personification in everyday language, advertisement, and literature.

Personification in Everyday Language:

The story jumped off the page.

Which is used to say that the words of a story, article, etc. were interesting and appealing to you.

The sun smiled down on us.

A phrase like this one is used to describe a sunny, but enjoyable day. It’s hot and bright, yes, but not scorching and unbearable.

Lightning danced across the sky.

Lightning can’t literally dance. But an expression like this one can help show that there’s a lightning storm, perhaps, and numerous strikes happening in the sky at once.

The last piece of cake was calling my name.

Many people use personification like the one above when writing or talking about how tempting a certain type of food appeared tempting to them.

The leaves waved hello in the wind.

We all know that leaves don’t wave hello. But the example above can help readers visualize leaves that were moving and fluttering as a result of the wind.

Personification in Advertisement:

The snack that smiles back! Goldfish! (Goldfish crackers)

You’re in good hands. (Allstate Insurance)

Milk’s favorite cookie. (Oreo)

Personification can go beyond words. For example, M&M’s has used personification in their advertisements for years as they gave their candies their own personalities and characteristics, letting them walk and talk like humans.

Personification in Literature:

The Heart wants what it wants—or else it does not care (Emily Dickinson)

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune… (William Shakespeare)

A host of golden daffodils; Besides the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze. (William Wordsworth)

Perfecting Personification

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Literary Devices

Literary devices, terms, and elements, personification, definition of personification, examples of personification from common speech, significance of personification in literature, 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.

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)

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)

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.

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.

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

Answer: C is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

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What is Personification — Definition and Examples for Writers

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H ave you ever read a story or novel where the words jumped off the page? It could have been due to personification. In fact, that first line you just read was an example of personification. Personification is an incredibly useful literary device that is used in sophisticated literature as well as everyday language. So what is personification, and how can it be used?

What is Personification?

Personification definition.

Personification can be used for countless subjects and forms from poetry to screenwriting . But all personification falls under the same definition. Before we analyze some examples and benefits of personification, let’s establish the personification definition. 

PERSONIFICATION DEFINITION

What is personification.

Personification is a type of figurative language that gives human characteristics to nonhuman things or inanimate objects. The nonhuman things can be animals, objects, or even a concept. The human characteristics given to these things can be emotion, behavior, or actions that bring nonhuman things to life.

Personification is common throughout literature and everyday speech. It can add life, energy, and animation to otherwise lifeless objects or subjects.

Why is personification used?

• Explain concepts more directly
• Energize the text
• Set the scene

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What is an example of personification

Personification examples.

Before we dive a bit deeper into its function it may be a little more helpful to look at a few personification examples. Personification is used throughout literature, movies, and everyday vernacular. Some examples of it are phrases:

• “The sun smiled down on us.”
• ‘The story jumped off the page.”
• “The light danced on the surface of the water.”  

You can find personification examples in multiple different parts of speech. The literary device can be applied to adjectives, verbs, and entire phrases, as you can see in these 5 personification sentences:

• The car coughed and wheezed as it pulled into the garage.
• The loquacious alley cats kept us up all night.
• The chair groaned with relief as the large man stood.
• The door’s hinges screamed as I pushed it open, alerting the rest of the room that I had entered.
• The fishing bobber happily splashed in the water.

It should come as no surprise that personification is often used in conjunction with other literary devices. A few examples:

• The photographs were our history books, regaling us with stories long gone by. (“Regaling” is personification, while the comparison of photographs to history books is a metaphor.)
• The tower reached toward the sun, taller than anything has ever been. (“Reached” is personification, and “taller than anything has ever been” is hyperbole.)
• It wasn’t a bad day’s work for the old shovel, which glistened proudly   after its extensive use. (“Proudly” is personification, “Wasn’t a bad day’s work” is litotes.)

What is personification used for?

Personification is unique among literary devices in that it is a non-literal use of language that conveys thoughts and ideas. Why would a writer use language in a non-literal way?

1. Explain concepts more directly

By bringing to life nonhuman subjects or inanimate objects, concepts and ideas can be described more directly and more simply. Take, for example, the classic “birds and the bees” conversation. Personifying birds and bees simplifies the concept in a way that is easier to tell. It is also both personification and a metaphor .

2. Energize the text

In poetry and literature, personifying can energize the text by literally bringing to life rather dull and unlively subjects. Allowing trees, or animals, or even objects to interact with characters can engage a reader much more than if they were portrayed realistically.

3. Set the scene

Personifying various story elements can create evocative imagery . Personifying objects can make the world of a story appear lively or more menacing depending on how the personification is used.

Now, let’s look at what sets personification apart from other literary devices.

Related Posts

• A Complete Guide to Literary Devices →
• What is an Allegory? Definition and Examples →
• The Difference Between Alliteration and Assonance →

More personification examples

Real-world personification examples.

Personification can be found everywhere, from literature to film to fine art. Often, a great use of personification may go unnoticed; it should feel natural and in service of the story being told or the message being delivered. 

Let’s look at some of the best examples, beginning with literature, including novels , short stories , and poetry.

• “Five-fingered ferns hung over the water and dropped spray from their fingertips.” John Steinbeck, “Flight”
• “The heart wants what it wants– or else it does not care.” Emily Dickinson in a letter to Mary Bowles
• “Peace had deserted Devon.” John Knowles, “A Separate Peace”
• “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon who is already sick and pale with grief. ” William Shakespeare, “Romeo and Juliet”
• “Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills.” Shirley Jackson, “The Haunting of Hill House”
• “Michaelmas daisies greeted and razzled from a little Sèvres vase she and Austin found together.” Thomas Pynchon, “Gravity’s Rainbow”

As you can see, personification can be subtle and quick, or be the backbone of an entire sentence. Now, let’s look at personification in music:

• “The drone of flying engines is a song so wild and blue,” Joni Mitchell, “Amelia”
• “And so today, my world it smiles,” Led Zeppelin, “Thank You”
• “The high yellow moon won’t come out to play,” Bob Marley, “Concrete Jungle”

Of course, personification can be found outside of art as well. Some of our most common everyday phrases use the literary device.

• Actions speak louder than words.
• Time marches on.
• Opportunity is knocking at your door.

Last but not least, personification can be found all over film. We’ll get more into this later, but personification does not refer to movies where inanimate objects literally come to life (like in most Disney animated films)– that is anthropomorphism .

• Wilson the Volleyball in Cast Away — Chuck ascribes human qualities to a volleyball, which is not actually alive.
• Life of Pi — Pi often gives the ocean and the tiger he’s on the ship with human qualities.
• Michael in Halloween — This is a different form of personification, where a human represents an abstract idea. Here, Michael is the personification of evil.

Film is unique because it doesn't only use personification to relate better to an audience or more simply explain an idea. In film, it has allowed filmmakers to literally make characters out of nonhuman subjects. Where would  Mulan  be without Mushu? Or  Frozen  without Olaf?

Being able to personify these characters has and continues to open the doors for memorable characters on the big screen.

Let’s look a little more closely at personification in Cast Away . Its use here is pivotal to Chuck’s character development . As Chuck spends more time alone on the island, he starts to lose grasp of his sanity. His personification of Wilson is the most clear representation of that.

But Wilson isn’t just a symptom of a loosened grip on reality. Wilson is crucial to Chuck’s will to keep fighting. In other words, for a large chunk of the film Wilson is his only friend. 

We can see Wilson’s importance when Chuck loses him. Take a look at the iconic scene in the screenplay, which we imported into StudioBinder’s screenwriting software :

Chuck’s loss here is his nadir, and the break into act 3 (if we’re going by the three act structure ). Without the volleyball that he’s imbued with human characteristics, Chuck is completely lost.

As we mentioned with anthropomorphism, personification can be mixed up with other devices. Let’s clear up the confusion.

PERSONIFICATION VS ANTHROPOMORPHISM VS METAPHOR

Personification vs other devices.

There are boatloads of literary devices out there, so it should come as no surprise that personification can sometimes be confused with a few other terms. Time to right those wrongs.

Anthropomorphism vs personification

Anthropomorphism  is perhaps the closest in meaning to personification. Both ascribe human characteristics onto inanimate or non-human objects. The crucial difference is that anthropomorphism is not figurative.

Anthropomorphism typically pops up in fairytales and fantasy. Talking squirrels, walking dressers, boxing lamps– these are all examples of anthropomorphism, not personification.

Metaphor vs personification

Believe it or not, personification actually has more overlap with  metaphor  than it does with anthropomorphism. Much of personification can be categorized as an  implied metaphor .

An implied metaphor compares a subject to another object without explicitly naming that object. 

So take a look at this use of personification: “The alarm clock screamed at me to wake up.” This is also an implied metaphor because we are implicitly comparing the metaphor to a human. To make this a more traditional metaphor, we could write, “The alarm clock was a drill sergeant, screaming at me to wake up.” Now the comparison is explicit.

Not all personification is an implied metaphor, and not all implied metaphors are personification. “The suitor was shattered by her rejection” is an implied metaphor comparing the suitor to glass, but it isn’t personification.

Personification vs onomatopoeia

There’s less overlap here.  Onomatopoeia  refers to words which sound like what they are describing. Think of words like moo, cluck, sizzle, and boom.

Onomatopoeia might be used within personification, like “The backed-up toilet gargled,” but the two terms have distinct and separate meanings.

Personification is an extremely powerful literary device, painting pictures and underscoring character traits with just a few words. Give it a try in your writing.

• Breakdown of the Different Types of Irony →
• History and Analysis of Satire in Literature and Film →
• How Writers  Foreshadowing to Engage an Audience →

Explore more literary devices

Personification is just one of many literary devices and types of figurative language , including onomatopoeia , connotation , and allegory . If you're a writer and want to develop your craft fully, do yourself a favor and continue this exploration. The next article on literary devices is a gateway to many of these tools that help add substance and style to any type of written work.

Up Next: Literary Devices Index →

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• 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."

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• Characterization
• Foreshadowing
• Static Character
• Flat Character
• Round Character

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Personification Examples to Make Your Writing More Interesting

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Like other forms of figurative language, personification can make your writing more dynamic. By giving human qualities to inanimate objects, you can uniquely describe situations that will resonate with your reader.

Read on to learn more about the literary device through personification examples .

What Is Personification?

Why use personification in your writing, 5 personification examples, famous examples of personification.

Personification is a literary device that gives human traits and emotions to nonhumans, like animals, objects or an abstract idea. It's more common to use personification in creative writing than in other types of writing, such as medical or business contexts.

According to Merriam-Webster , human beings have long used personification:

Personification vs. Anthropomorphism

Personification is not the same as anthropomorphism, which is the literary technique of portraying animals, plants or objects behaving like humans.

You can see an example of anthropomorphism in "Fantastic Mr. Fox," a movie in which animals talk, wear clothes and plan elaborate schemes just as the human characters do.

Giving objects or animals human emotions can help the reader form emotional connections to nonhuman figures. As with other literary devices, personification can also help paint a more vivid picture of a scene or make abstract ideas more accessible.

Charles Dickens, who employed personification regularly, saw these human attributes in everyday life. "This is a lesson taught us in the great book of nature," he said .

"This is the lesson which may be read, alike in the bright track of the stars, and in the dusty course of the poorest thin that drags its tiny length upon the ground. This is the lesson ever uppermost in the thoughts of that inspired man, who tells us that there are Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

Lastly, personification can make your writing more engaging, especially if you give unexpected human characteristics to an inanimate object.

Here are a few examples of personification.

• Talking about the strength of the wind : As the rain died down, the wind only whispered.
• Explaining how loud your alarm clock was : The alarm clock shouted at me, jolting me awake.
• Describing the flickering of a candle : The candle flame danced a lively polka.
• Showing that you use your running shoes a lot : The shoes, tired from weeks of preparation, carried me to the finish line.
• Demonstrating the size of a mountain : The mountains stood tall, inspiring fear in the hikers.

Authors regularly use personification in their works. Here are a few famous examples.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

From "a christmas carol" by charles dickens, from "the giving tree" by shel silverstein.

Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article:

Personification: A Complete Guide for students and teachers

Personification Definition

Personification is a literary device where human qualities or characteristics are attributed to non-human entities, such as objects, animals, or abstract concepts. It involves giving human-like traits, emotions, or actions to something that is not human, which helps to create vivid imagery, enhance storytelling, and evoke emotional responses from the audience. Essentially, it’s a way…

Personification Literary Definition

What is Personification?

Before students can recognize the use of personification in the literature they read and use the device in their writing, they must first 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 phrases such as “the angry wind” or “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 can technically only be performed by humans, we find no incongruity in the above phrase. A specific image is conjured up in our minds, and we understand it imaginatively.

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  Anthropomorphism Versus Personification

In any exploration of personification, it’s worth pointing out the difference between anthropomorphism and personification.

While they have much in common, take the time to ensure students know 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 transform nonhumans into humans—in all but outward appearance, usually.

Here, consider the characters in Aesop’s fables or 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 as straightforwardly as possible?

Famous Examples Of Personification In Literacy

Death lays his icy hand on the kings.” The Grave” by Robert Blair

“Time creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” From William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.” Emily Dickinson

“Opportunity knocked on my door.” Various authors, found in various writings.

“Love is a rose, but you better not pick it.” Neil Young

Why Do We 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 almost 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 imaginatively.

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

In summary, personification in a sentence, poem or narrative is a powerful tool that, when used skillfully, can create vivid images and deep subconscious connections in the reader’s mind.

When To Use Personification

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

However, students need to realise that personification is used in everyday speech, 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 and illuminate a complex idea.

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

How To Personify 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 through the personification of ideas and concepts.

This is clearly demonstrated by the way 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 understand the concepts, but it also allows human interaction with them, as we can see throughout various mythological cycles and works of literature.

Personification In Poetry 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.

Please 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 personification and why and how it’s used, the time is right to challenge them 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 generally 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 list in brackets, we’ll have ‘sing’ and ‘book’. From these, we could create the following 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 more practice, your students will have their own words dancing on the page, too!

101 Examples Of Personification

Sometimes, it is just far more straightforward to see examples of personification in action, so here are 101 examples that students can browse and integrate into their writing.

• The wind whispered secrets through the trees.
• The sun smiled down on the earth.
• Time flies when you’re having fun.
• The flowers danced in the breeze.
• The stars winked at me from the night sky.
• The old house groaned as if in pain.
• The waves crashed angrily against the shore.
• Fear gripped her like icy fingers.
• The car engine roared to life.
• The city never sleeps.
• The pages of the book begged to be turned.
• The raindrops kissed the windowpane gently.
• The darkness enveloped the room like a blanket.
• The thunder roared its disapproval.
• The fire crackled and popped with laughter.
• The moon played hide-and-seek behind the clouds.
• The mountains stood tall and proud.
• The alarm clock screamed at me to wake up.
• The leaves rustled in the autumn breeze.
• The river ran swiftly, eager to reach the sea.
• The fog crept in on little cat feet.
• The mountain peak reached for the sky.
• The snowflakes danced gracefully to the ground.
• The car complained as it struggled up the steep hill.
• The shadow lurked in the corner, waiting patiently.
• The computer refused to cooperate, throwing a tantrum.
• The ice cream melted in the sun’s warm embrace.
• The pencil danced across the paper, creating art.
• The door creaked open reluctantly.
• The coffee beckoned to me with its rich aroma.
• The mirror reflected my sadness back at me.
• The clock on the wall watched as time slipped away.
• The guitar sang sweet melodies into the night.
• The mountain range stood guard over the valley.
• The clouds whispered secrets to each other as they drifted by.
• The road stretched out before us, inviting us to explore.
• The camera captured memories with every click.
• The storm clouds gathered ominously overhead.
• The blanket wrapped me in its warm embrace.
• The bicycle begged to be ridden, leaning against the wall.
• The shadows danced across the room in the flickering candlelight.
• The stars painted the night sky with their twinkling light.
• The tree branches reached out like fingers, grasping at the sky.
• The snow-covered ground sighed underfoot as we walked.
• The river sang a soothing lullaby as it flowed.
• The ocean waves whispered secrets to the shore.
• The mountain peak greeted the sunrise with open arms.
• The painting on the wall seemed to come to life in the dim light.
• The clouds raced across the sky as if in a hurry.
• The suitcase sat patiently by the door, ready for adventure.
• The candle flickered nervously in the draft.
• The echo of her laughter bounced off the walls.
• The camera lens stared blankly at the scene before it.
• The cell phone buzzed excitedly with each notification.
• The road beckoned with promises of adventure.
• The mailbox eagerly awaited the arrival of the postman.
• The popcorn popped joyfully in the microwave.
• The flashlight guided us through the darkness.
• The shoes danced across the stage with grace.
• The teapot whistled a cheerful tune on the stove.
• The mountains called out to be climbed.
• The compass pointed us in the right direction.
• The car’s headlights pierced the darkness ahead.
• The river’s song soothed my troubled mind.
• The snowflakes whispered secrets as they fell to the ground.
• The shadow of doubt loomed over our decision.
• The candle’s flame danced in the gentle breeze.
• The moon’s reflection shimmered on the water’s surface.
• The backpack sagged under the weight of its contents.
• The clouds hung heavy in the sky like a blanket.
• The stars danced in the night sky.
• The TV blared its message to anyone who would listen.
• The thunder rumbled its discontent.
• The road stretched out before us like a ribbon.
• The pencil scratched out its message on the paper.
• The windowpane cried tears of rain.
• The chair groaned as I sat down heavily.
• The suitcase sighed with relief as it was finally unpacked.
• The river’s current pulled us along like a gentle hand.
• The sun’s rays reached out to warm us.
• The door slammed shut in anger.
• The painting’s colors sang out in harmony.
• The stars twinkled mischievously in the night sky.
• The snowfall whispered secrets to the earth below.
• The tree branches waved in the breeze.
• The ocean’s waves kissed the shore.
• The leaves rustled in the wind like gossiping neighbors.
• The mountain peak towered above us.
• The clock’s hands raced around its face.
• The car’s tires gripped the road tightly.
• The river’s surface shimmered in the sunlight.
• The fog crept in silently, obscuring our view.
• The suitcase protested as it was dragged across the floor.
• The wind howled through the trees.
• The shadows danced on the wall in the flickering candlelight.
• The snowfall blanketed the ground in white.
• The moon’s glow lit up the night sky.
• The rain tapped out a rhythm on the roof.
• The fire crackled and popped in the fireplace.
• The road beckoned us onward with promises of adventure.
• The stars whispered secrets to each other in the night sky.

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Personification in Writing (How To Write + Examples)

In simplest terms, personification is attributing human qualities to non human things.

A detailed and dictionary definition of personification would be “representation of a thing or abstraction as a person or by the human form,” according to  Merriam-Webster .

Personification is a literary device, a kind of metaphor, where a non human entity is represented with human characteristics.

Some common examples of personification that we use in daily life include:

• the roaring waves of the sea;
• the thunder grumbled hard;
• the sky wept;
• the grasses danced;
• the angry alarm clock;
• words come to life;

What is the Purpose of Using Personification?

• The basic purpose of personification in writing is to make inanimate objects  relatable  to the (human) reader. Personification also adds a deeper meaning to things that do not possess complex human attributes.
• Personification helps concretize abstract ideas like thoughts, human emotions, memories, or belongings. Any human characteristic, be that emotion or action, holds power to  humanize  the object of personification, making it easier for us to relate, easily understand, and illustrate it in our minds.
• Personification in writing also helps create  vivid imagery  in the minds of the readers. For example, poetry goes like this: “The cloud-filled sky mourned as the white roses covered the ground…” readers paint their imagination with a grey sky that is about to break in rain. The sky does not understand the human behavior of mourning; the writer uses personification to craft the perfect picture they want to showcase.
• Personification in literature help set moods, settings and gives many aspects of a fictional story a kind of profoundness, a sense of familiarity, and easier to follow.
• Through time, writers and directors have used personification in their works to create inanimate characters, animated settings, and suspense. When a haunted house gets a memory ad consciousness like that of a human being, it is not very comforting, and this effect is created by means of personification.

Anthropomorphism vs. Personification

Anthropomorphism gives entities (or ideas) such as animals, gods, or objects specific human characteristics.

You are probably thinking how this sounds exactly like the definition of personification. Here is the catch.

Personification is a figurative language, while anthropomorphism is literal.

Personification is a literary technique used for expressing abstract ideas, moods, and feelings in a comprehensible way. Anthropomorphism is attributing human traits to non human things in an explicit way.

Anthropomorphism is a part of personification.

Examples of Personification vs. Anthropomorphism

Personification:  “The train is taking a stroll in the garden.” Here the train is personified, like a person taking a leisurely walk in their garden in the context that it moves very slowly.

Anthropomorphism:  Thomas from Thomas and Friends. The tank engine has specific human qualities like being able to talk and think, and Thomas is a living entity in the show, not a literary device.

Personification Examples in Literature

Death, be not proud by john donne.

In this  sonnet , death is personified throughout.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

The poet asks death not to be haughty just because people are fearful of death.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

The Giving Tree  is a controversial picture book that uses the personification of a tree to explain the abundance of Mother Nature and human beings’ relationship to her.

Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Paul Revere’s Ride  honors American patriot Sir Paul Revere.

the watchful night-wind, as it went Creeping along from tent to tent, And seeming to whisper, ‘All is well!’

I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud by William Wordsworth

In this  famous poem , Wordsworth personifies daffodils and other aspects of nature as a way of using figurative language.

When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Here the beauty of daffodils swaying in the wind is expressed by the poem using the literary device of personification.

The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

The waves are also personified as dancing like the daffodils.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

The Day the Crayons Quit  is a children’s book published in 2013. It personifies crayons, giving them human qualities of emotions and how the protagonist, Duncan, deals with them.

Personification Examples in Other Media

Thriller  by michael jackson (song).

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

In these lines, Michael Jackson personifies horror, like some bizarre event about to happen, in front of you.

Inside Out  by Pete Docter

Young Riley’s emotions are personified in this animated film, about how emotions like joy, sadness, anger deal with each other in new surroundings.

Emotions are given feelings, arcs, actions of their own as characters get in films and shows.

A very old example of this kind can be found in the play  Everyman , a morality play of the early 16th century.

New York, New York  by Frank Sinatra

These vagabond shoes They are longing to stray Right through the very heart of it New York, New York

Frank Sinatra personifies his old country shoes. What he is trying to describe is that he is tired of living in the country and wants to explore the glamorous city of New York.

Here Comes the Sun  by The Beatles

Here comes the sun Here comes the sun, and I say, It’s all right

The sun is the subject of personification here, and it expresses the arrival of the day, as well as good times.

How to Use Personification in Your Own Writing?

Writing personification is quite simple. You can use personification as a figurative language for the purpose of describing things better, for making it reader-friendly, and really connecting through your writing.

One example of personification on how it instantly connects readers to your writing is, “We all hate the scolding from our alarm clock every morning.” This sentence will be relatable and engage your readers better than saying, “We all hate the sound of the alarm clock.”

Writing personification is just giving a human phenomenon to nonhuman things with the intention of expressing better. It is as simple as that: choose nonhuman things and give them human characteristics.

• Replace “loud alarm clock” with “angry alarm clock.”
• Replace “swaying flowers” with “dancing flowers.”
• Replace “rainy sky” with “sky full of tears.”

It’s better to  avoid personification or any figurative language in technical writing or scientific journals , as these texts are expected to present only facts without any form of personal expression.

• Definition of  personification  as in Oxford Dictionary.
• Find poems with personification in this  Scottish Poetry Library  archive.
• Learn how using personification can improve your writing in this  JSTOR article .

Tomas Laurinavicius

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When & How to Write a Personification

• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Write a Personification

How to Write a Personification

In order to use personification well, it helps to be aware of the feeling you want a scene to have; it doesn’t have to be what the character feels, but that’s a good possibility. So, to use personification,

• Think of the feeling you want to express or draw out.
• Now think of a situation that would fit that feeling
• Use personification by describing the objects and scene as if they were people showing that feeling.

For example, imagine a child is afraid of a storm.

Situation and Mood:

A young girl is very afraid in the middle of a night-time storm.

Sentence with Personification:

Annabelle listened to the storm rage outside her window: winds grabbed the house and shook the walls, rain hammered on the roof like it was trying to break in, and the thunder grumbled and roared with anger.

Annabelle’s fear is very clear in the personification of the storm as an angry and violent person trying to break in the house.

For a second example, imagine a student who just aced an exam.

A boy has just aced an exam and is walking home feeling triumphant.

Today the wind, which usually annoyed him, seemed to ruffle his hair like an affectionate parent, the trees seemed to applaud him with their rustling leaves, and even the barking dog he passed every day seemed to be shouting friendly greetings at him.

Not only is this a colorful and creative way to describe the scene, it also tells us lots about the character that is walking through it.

When to use Personification

Personification can be used in almost all creative writing to describe scenes and indirectly express feelings. It is a common element of poetry and prose and even speeches and songs. Because it is figurative and usually emotional language, personification cannot be used much in formal essays , technical writing, nor literal situations. For instance, a person working on a broken vacuum cleaner would not say “She’s angry and doesn’t feel like sucking up any dirt today.” Rather, he would specify, “The suction tube seems to be malfunctioning.”

However, there may be occasions when it can be used in non-fiction writing or speaking to make an abstract idea more clear or entertaining. For example, the famous physicist Leonard Susskind often says things like “the electrons don’t want to be in the same state” to describe their “behavior”; he’s not worried that his audience is going to mistakenly think that electrons have feelings; it’s just an effective—and entertaining—way to describe a difficult concept.

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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!

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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 !

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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.

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