Examples of Personification

Everyone knows what a person is, but do you know what personification is? Personification is when you assign the qualities of a person to something that isn't human or, in some cases, to something that isn't even alive. There are many reasons for using personification. It can be used as a method of describing something so that others can understand. It can be used to emphasize a point. It is a commonly favored literary tool, and you may in fact use personification without even knowing it.

50 Ways to Use Personification

The following sentences use the personification technique. See if you can identify which part of the word or phrase is the personification. The answers are below: 1. The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky. 2. The run down house appeared depressed. 3. The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow. 4. She did not realize that opportunity was knocking at her door. 5. He did not realize that his last chance was walking out the door. 6. The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as they buzzed from one to another. 7. The wind howled its mighty objection. 8. The snow swaddled the earth like a mother would her infant child. 9. The river swallowed the earth as the water continued to rise higher and higher. 10. Time flew and before we knew it, it was time for me to go home. 11. The ocean waves lashed out at the boat and the storm continued to brew. 12. My computer throws a fit every time I try to use it. 13. The thunder grumbled like an old man. 14. The flowers waltzed in the gentle breeze. 15. Her life passed her by. 16. The sun glared down at me from the sky. 17. The moon winked at me through the clouds above. 18. The wind sang through the meadow. 19. The car was suffering and was in need of some TLC. 20. At precisely 6:30 am my alarm clock sprang to life. 21. The window panes were talking as the wind blew through them. 22. The ocean danced in the moonlight. 23. The words appeared to leap off of the paper as she read the story. 24. The phone awakened with a mighty ring. 25. The funeral raced by me in a blur. 26. While making my way to my car, it appeared to smile at me mischievously. 27. The car, painted lime green, raced by screaming for attention. 28. The butterflies in the meadow seemed to two-step with one another. 29. The waffle jumped up out of the toaster. 30. The popcorn leapt out of the bowl. 31. When the DVD went on sale, it flew off the shelves. 32. I tripped because the curb jumped out in front of me.

33. Time creeps up on you. 34. The news took me by surprise. 35. The fire ran wild. 36. The thunder clapped angrily in the distance. 37. The tornado ran through town without a care. 38. The door protested as it opened slowly. 39. The evil tree was lurking in the shadows. 40. The tree branch moaned as I swung from it. 41. Time marches to the beat of its own drum. 42. The storm attacked the town with great rage. 43. My life came screeching to a halt. 44. The baseball screamed all the way into the outfield. 45. The blizzard swallowed the town. 46. The tsunami raced towards the coastline. 47. The avalanche devoured everything in its path. 48. The pistol glared at me from its holster. 49. The car beckoned me from across the showroom. 50. I could hear Hawaii calling my name.

Identifying the Personification

Here's a quick review of the personification from the fifty sentences aboves. The subject being personified is underlined. The human trait assigned to the subject is in bold. 1. The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky. 2. The run down house appeared depressed. 3. The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow. 4. She did not realize that opportunity was knocking at her door. 5. He did not realize that his last chance was walking out the door. 6. The bees played hide and seek with the flowers as they buzzed from one to another. 7. The wind howled its mighty objection. 8. The snow swaddled the earth like a mother would her infant child. 9. The river swallowed the earth as the water continued to rise higher and higher. 10. Time flew and before we knew it, it was time for me to go home. 11. The ocean waves lashed out at the boat and the storm continued to brew. 12. My computer throws a fit every time I try to use it. 13. The thunder grumbled like an old man. 14. The flowers waltzed in the gentle breeze. 15. Her life passed her by. 16. The sun glared down at me from the sky. 17. The moon winked at me through the clouds above. 18. The wind sang through the meadow. 19. The car was suffering and was in need of some TLC. 20. At precisely 6:30 am my alarm clock sprang to life. 21. The window panes were talking as the wind blew through them. 22. The ocean danced in the moonlight. 23. The words leapt off of the paper as she read the story.

24. The phone awakened with a mighty ring. 25. The funeral raced by me in a blur. 26. While making my way to my car, it smiled at me mischievously. 27. Thecar, painted lime green, raced by screaming for attention. 28. The butterflies in the meadowseemed to two-step with one another. 29. The waffle jumped up out of the toaster. 30. The popcorn leapt out of the bowl. 31. When the DVD went on sale, it flew off the shelves. 32. I tripped because the curb jumped out in front of me. 33. Time creeps up on you. 34. The news took me by surprise. 35. The fire ran wild. 36. The thunder clapped angrily in the distance. 37. The tornado ran through town without a care. 38. The door protested as it opened slowly. 39. The evil tree was lurking in the shadows. 40. The tree branch moaned as I swung from it. 41. Time marches to the beat of its own drum. 42. The storm attacked the town with great rage. 43. My life came screeching to a halt. 44. The baseball screamed all the way into the outfield. 45. The blizzard swallowed the town. 46. The tsunami raced towards the coastline. 47. The avalanche devoured everything in its path. 48. The pistol glared at me from its holster. 49. The car beckoned me from across the showroom. 1.50. I could hear Hawaii calling my name.

Personification
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In writing, personification means attributing an inanimate (non-living) object human traits and qualities, such as emotions, desires, sensations, physical gestures and speech. Examples are 'the leaves swayed in the wind', 'the ocean heaved a sigh' or 'the frowning cliff smiled at last'. In easy language personification is just giving an example of a living being for a non living thing The wind yells while blowing. Now, obviously the wind cannot yell only people can. This is what is called Personification. A few more examples of personification in sentences:1. The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky. 2. She did not realize that the opportunity was knocking at her door.

3. The thunder grumbled like an old man. 4. At precisely 6:30 am my alarm clock sprang to life. 5. The fire ran wild and swallowed the forrest, as the flames licked the trees green leaves 6. The tornado ran through town without a care. 7. My life came screeching to a halt. 8. Time creeps up on you. 9. The news took me by surprise. 10. The tsunami raced towards the coastline. 11. The sky smiled, as the horrible clouds raced across it. 12. The birds saluted the aeroplane. Another commonly used personification is found in storybooks where animals are commonly attributed names or labels for recognition. In common pop culture, organisms may also be used as embodiments or incarnations of a concept, for example, the snake in the bible represented temptation, or Loki represents sin the in the movie, Thor. Personification also gives writing a bit more of an unrealistic turn, to give life to objects, to make a sort of fiction book. So if you are someone who is interested in writing fiction books and other things related to them, you need to use personification to give it that really good, unrealistic turn. Another word for comparing a person with an object is Objectification

Definition of Personification: The act of attributing human or personal characteristics to non-human creatures or inanimate objects. Examples of Personification in Poetry "Have you got a brook in your little heart, Where bashful flowers blow, And blushing birds go down to drink, And shadows tremble so?" Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, Have You Got A Brook In Your Little Heart "On Juliet smile the autumn stars And windswept plains by Winchelsea, In summer on their sandy bars Her rivers loiter languidly." Enid Derham, A Ballade of Home "The sea had climbed the mountain peaks, And shouted to the stars To come to play: and down they came

Splashing in happy wars. The pine grew apples for a whim, The cart-horse built a nest; The oxen flew, the flowers sang, The sun rose in the west." Gilbert Keith Chesterson, A Certain Evening "It is better, O day, that you go to your rest, For you go like a guest who was loth to remain! Swing open, ye gates of the east and the west, And let out the wild shadows the night and the rain." Henry Kendall, Sunset

personification [per-son-uh-fi-key-shuh n] Show IPA noun 1. the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions,esp ecially as a rhetorical figure. 2. the representation of a thing or abstraction in the form of a person, as in art. 3. the person or thing embodying a quality or the like; an embodiment or incarnation: He is thepers onification of tact. 4. an imaginary person or creature conceived or figured to represent a thing or abstraction. 5. the act of attributing human qualities to an animal, object, or abstraction; the act of personifying: The author's personification of the farm animals made for an enchanting children's book.

(Personification)
On your own paper, write the object being personified and the meaning of the personification.

1. The wind sang her mournful song through the falling leaves. 2. The microwave timer told me it was time to turn my TV dinner. 3. The video camera observed the whole scene. 4. The strawberries seemed to sing, "Eat me first!" 5. The rain kissed my cheeks as it fell. 6. The daffodils nodded their yellow heads at the walkers. 7. The water beckoned invitingly to the hot swimmers. 8. The snow whispered as it fell to the ground during the early morning hours. 9. The china danced on the shelves during the earthquake. 10. The car engine coughed and sputtered when it started during the blizzard.

Personification is giving human traits (qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics) to non-living objects (things, colors, qualities, or ideas). For example: The window winked at me. The verb, wink, is a human action. A window is a non-living object.

Find the examples of personification in these poems and explain how they are personification. Dinnertime Chorus The teapot sang as the water boiled The ice cubes cackled in their glass the teacups chattered to one another. While the chairs were passing gas The gravy gurgled merrily As the oil danced in a pan. Oh my dinnertime chorus What a lovely, lovely clan! My Town The leaves on the ground danced in the wind The brook sang merrily as it went on its way. The fence posts gossiped and watched cars go by which winked at each other just to say hi. The traffic lights yelled, "Stop, slow, go!" The tires gripped the road as if clinging to life. Stars in the sky blinked and winked out While the hail was as sharp as a knife. Nature's Chorus

Willows bend to their partners while the spruces curtsey in response. Cherry trees form a circle and the oaks dance just like debutantes of woodpeckers tapping on their trunks and squirrels chattering in the boughs. Listen to the sounds of nature's chorus What fun it does arouse! Games Chipmunks chatter and scurry, Blue jays scream and scold. Robins talk and gossip demanding their story to be told. Squirrels skip and box one another and rabbits play hop scotch. The games they play, the sounds they make Really are top notch. The Gastronomic Gym Pasta twirling and spinning, peas do vertical jumps mashed potatoes swimming. meat doing bench press and pumps. Food has begun to exercise but it's not in any gym. My brother said its happening right inside of him. Poetry by Sharon Hendricks

Personification is giving human qualities to animals or objects.

Example: a smiling moon, a jovial sun, more In "Mirror" by Sylvia Plath, for example, the mirror--the "I" in the first line--is given the ability to speak, see and swallow, as well as human attributes such as truthfulness. 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-In John Keats' "To Autumn," the fall season is personified as "sitting careless on a granary floor" (line 14) and "drowsed with the fume of poppies" (line 17.)

Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing, an idea or an animal is given human attributes. The non-human objects are portrayed in such a way that we feel they have the ability to act like human beings. For example, when we say, The sky weeps we are giving the sky the ability to feel that is a human quality. Thus, we can say that the sky has been personified in the given sentence. Some common examples of personification are given below:

Common Examples of Personification

Look at my car. She is a beauty, isnt it so?

The wind whispered through dry grass. The flowers danced in the gentle breeze. Time and tide waits for none. The fire swallowed the entire forest.

We see in the above example that personification helps us relate actions of inanimate objects to our own emotions.

Examples of Personification in Literature

Let us observe a few examples of personification in Literature: 1. Taken from L. M. Montgomerys The Green Gables Letters,
I hied me away to the woodsaway back into the sun-washed alleys carpeted with fallen gold and glades where the moss is green and vivid yet. The woods are getting ready to sleepthey are not yet asleep but they are disrobing and are having all sorts of little bed-time conferences and whisperings and good-nights.

The lack of activity in the forest has been beautifully personified as forest getting ready to sleep, busy in bed-time chatting and wishing good-nights, all of which relate typically to human customs. 2. Taken from Act I, Scene II of Romeo and Juliet,
When well-appareled April on the heel Of limping winter treads.

April cannot put on a dress, and winter does not limp and it does not have heel on which a month can walk. Shakespeare personifies month of April and winter season by giving them two distinct human qualities. 3. A.H. Houseman in his poem Loveliest of Trees the Cherry Now personifies the cherry tree,
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough, And stands about the woodland ride Wearing white for Eastertide.

He sees a cherry tree covered with beautiful white flowers in the forest and says that cherry tree wears white clothes to celebrate Easter. He gives human attributes to a tree in order to describe it in human terms. 4. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson employs personification in her poem Have You Got A Brook In Your Little Heart.
Have you got a brook in your little heart, Where bashful flowers blow, And blushing birds go down to drink, And shadows tremble so?

The bashful flowers, blushing birds and trembling shadows are examples of personification. 5. Katherine Mansfield wrote in her short story How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped,
Pearl Button swung on the little gate in front of the House of Boxes. It was the early afternoon of a sunshiny day with little winds playing hide-and-seek in it.

It personifies wind by saying that it is as playful as little children playing hide-and-seek on a shiny day. 6. William Blake personifies Sunflowers in his poem Two Sunflowers Move in a Yellow Room.
Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room. Ah, William, were weary of weather, said the sunflowers, shining with dew. Our traveling habits have tired us. Can you give us a room with a view?

The flowers are depicting human characteristic of weariness caused by weather. In a human way, they make a request to the poet to put them in a room with a window with a plenty of sunshine.

Function of Personification

Personification is not merely a decorative device but it serves the purpose of giving deeper meanings to literary texts. It adds vividness to expressions as we always look at the world from human perspective. Writers and poets rely on personification to bring inanimate things to life, so that their nature and actions are understood in a better way. Because it is easier for us to relate to something that is human or possess human traits. Its use encourages us to develop a perspective that is new as well as creative.

Personification is a figurative languagetechnique where an object or idea is given human characteristics or qualities. In other words, using our language, we make an object or idea do something that usually is only done by people. With personification speakers and writers make the object or idea like a person and, hence, they personify it. Personification is often confused with anthropomorphism, where human abilities and characteristics are given to animals (such as in fable, where animals talk and behave as humans do) but the term personification should not be applied to human-like behavior in animals. Here are fifty examples of personification: 50 Examples of Personification 1. Justice is blind and, at times, deaf. 2. Money is the only friend that I can count on. 3. The cactus saluted any visitor brave enough to travel the scorched land. 4. Jan ate the hotdog despite the arguments it posed to her digestive system. 5. The world does not care to hear your sad stories. 6. After freedoms sweet kiss, she could never return to the doldrums of the factory. 7. Peggy heard the last piece of cheesecake in the refrigerator calling her name. 8. The sorry engine wheezed its death cough. 9. Drugs dragged him into this place and they wouldnt let him leave alive. 10. The buses can be impatient around here. 11. These casinos are always hungry enough to eat your dinner. 12. He sang a lonely song to the moonlight. 13. The candle flame danced in the dark.

14. Thunder grumbled and raindrops reported for duty. 15. The moon turned over to face the day. 16. As fall turned to winter, the trees found themselves wearing white. 17. The brown grass was begging for water. 18. Our society needs strong leaders. 19. One unhappy icicle wasted away in the day. 20. The sunflowers nodded in the wind. 21. Most pianos have pretty good manners but Stephan can make them sound rude. 22. The traffic noises argued long into the night and finally Cal went to sleep. 23. The angry storm pounded the tin shelter. 24. A school of rainbow trout swam across the mouth of the river. 25. The silence crept into the classroom. 26. Father Time can always catch up to you, no matter how fast you run. 27. This city never sleeps. 28. The sun stretched its golden arms across the plains. 29. My heart has been skipping around in my chest since I saw her. 30. The child of morning, rosy fingered dawn, appeared. 31. Any trust I had for him walked right out the door. 32. And with those four words her happiness died. 33. The cigarettes stole his health and spent it on phlegm. 34. Kiss your integrity goodbye. 35. The trees dropped their leaves and rested. 36. I overheard the streets talking about you. 37. Winters icy grip squeezed his rib cage. 38. The business world would chew you up and spit you out. 39. The clouds pushed each other around in the sky. 40. He had little to live for now that his dreams were dead. 41. The smell of smoke tattled on the delinquent. 42. The wind whispered the rumors of the forest. 43. The jittery hands of corruption orchestrated the affairs at city hall. 44. Still waters shivered in the wind. 45. Those greedy weeds have starved the petunias.

46. A case of cupcakes can be quite charming to an empty stomach. 47. December light is brief and uncharitable. 48. This morning had friendly greetings for peaceful sleepers. 49. The party died as soon as she left. 50. Light had conquered darkness.

1. Live Cartoons!
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Gather together some clips from various cartoons that employ personification. Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Sponge Bob, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and stories about objects like "The Brave Little Toaster" would all work. Show your class the clips and ask them each to write down one character that they'd like to portray in a skit. Have each student make a list of all the ways that the chosen animal or object is personified. How do they dress and speak? What's their personality like? Once they've created their characters, have the students, in groups of two or three, create skits in which the personified characters interact.

Personification Jeopardy
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Collect some poetry (or write your own!) that describes objects, ideas or animals personification. For example, you might describe how "bright and shining, but everchanging in size and visibility" an unnamed object is. When you read this description, have students raise their hands or "buzz in" to answer with the question, as in Jeopardy, "What is the moon?" Make sure to collect a wide range of objects, animals and ideas (Time, for example, can be a cruel taskmaster) to describe as answers through personification. You could keep score and declare a winner of your Personification Jeopardy or just play for the fun and learning experience.
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Group Personification Story

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Have everyone sit in a circle. Begin by choosing one an animal or object about which to create a group story. If, for example, "a chair" is selected, begin the story with a phrase like, "One day there was a very lonely chair." One by one, each student continues the story, adding new personification aspects. (You might assist them with "How did the chair feel about that?" or "What did the chair do next?") Encourage the students to continue to develop the adventures of whatever object or animal they are describing until all in the circle have added a piece of the story.

Personification Scavenger Hunt

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This exercise allows students to work in groups. Have them divide into teams of three or four. Tell them that you will give them a set amount of time to search through all the

materials in the room for examples of personification. Tell them that once they select a resource, to be fair to everyone, they will only have five minutes to look through that resource before returning it to its place. Remind them that they must also take note of what resource in which they found their examples. As in a traditional scavenger hunt, the team with the most correct finds wins.