Here is the personification definition in one line: personification is describing something that is not human, such as an object, an animal, the weather or an idea, as if it had human feelings, thoughts or actions. "The kettle sang" and "my phone is begging for a charge" are both personification.
Writers use it to make scenes vivid and feelings easy to share, and ordinary people use it constantly without noticing. The word has a second meaning too, a person who perfectly represents a quality. Both senses, plus plenty of examples and the figures of speech it gets confused with, are below.
Entry at a glance
Meaning
Giving human qualities to non-human thingsPart of speech
NounPronunciation
per-SON-uh-fi-KAY-shunVerb
personify (personifies, personified)Type
Figure of speech, a kind of figurative languageClose terms
Older Greek name
prosopopoeia
Personification definition: two meanings
- A figure of speech. Language that treats a non-human thing as a person. The thing may feel ("the lonely house"), act ("the traffic crawled and grumbled") or speak ("the scale told me the truth this morning").
- A perfect human example of a quality. "Our grandmother was the personification of patience." Here the word means she seemed to be patience in human form. In this sense it is close to epitome.
A third, related use appears in art and history: an idea shown as a human figure, such as justice drawn as a blindfolded woman holding scales, or time as an old man with an hourglass.
Examples you can borrow or adapt
| Sentence | Human trait given |
|---|---|
| The alarm clock screamed at six. | Screaming |
| Fog crept over the playground. | Creeping, a sneaky movement |
| The old laptop groaned every time I opened a spreadsheet. | Complaining |
| Opportunity knocked, and he was asleep. | Knocking at a door |
| The monsoon finally kept its promise. | Making and keeping promises |
| My plants look offended when I forget to water them. | Feeling hurt |
| The city never sleeps. | Sleeping, or refusing to |
| Hunger gnawed at the hikers. | Biting, chewing |
Why writers use it
- To create a mood. "The house watched us leave" feels eerie; "the house waved us off" feels warm. Same house, different feeling.
- To explain the unfamiliar. Teachers say "white blood cells hunt down germs" so young students can picture the process.
- To compress. One verb like "the wind howled" gives sound, force and emotion together.
- To persuade. Advertisers and speechmakers give products or nations feelings and wishes, so audiences relate to them.
Poetry, fables and children's stories are full of it, and so is daily talk: cars refuse to start, computers "think," and markets get nervous.
Personification vs metaphor, simile and anthropomorphism
| Term | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Personification | Gives a non-human thing a human trait, usually in a word or phrase | The leaves danced. |
| Metaphor | Calls one thing by another's name | Her office is a zoo. |
| Simile | Draws the comparison openly with like or as | He ran like a cheetah. |
| Anthropomorphism | Makes an animal, object or god actually behave as a human, often as a character | A rabbit who wears a waistcoat and runs a bakery. |
Personification is often treated as a special kind of metaphor. The test for anthropomorphism is whether the creature is really acting human inside the story, not just described that way for a moment.
How to use the words correctly
- Noun: "The poem relies on personification." "She is the personification of calm."
- Verb: "The poet personifies the river as a tired old woman." "In many traditions, death is personified as a hooded figure."
- Common pairing: the personification of + a quality (kindness, evil, cool).
A frequent slip is to call any vivid description personification. "The red, glowing sky" is imagery, not personification, because nothing human is added. "The sky blushed" is personification, because blushing is something people do.
Origin of the word
English formed personification from the verb personify, which came from French personnifier. Both go back to Latin persona, originally a mask worn by an actor and later a person or character. Classical teachers of rhetoric described the device under the Greek name prosopopoeia, roughly "making a face," which in older usage also covered speaking in the voice of an absent person.
A quick classroom check
When a worksheet asks what is the definition of personification, test each sentence with two questions. Is the subject non-human? Is it doing or feeling something only people really do? If both answers are yes, you have personification. Try it on these: "The stars winked at us" (yes), "The stars were bright" (no), "Justice is blind" (yes, an idea given a human condition). For more devices in the same family, such as alliteration and hyperbole, see our grammar and writing guides.
Frequently asked questions
How would you define personification for kids?
Personification is when you talk about a thing as if it were a person. If you say "the sun smiled on us," you are pretending the sun can smile like a person.
What is the meaning of personification in English literature?
In literature it is a figure of speech in which an object, animal, place or idea is given human qualities. Poets use it to create mood and to make abstract ideas, like love or death, feel close and concrete.
Is personification a type of metaphor?
Many teachers treat it as one, since it describes one thing in terms of another, here a thing in terms of a person. It is still taught as its own device because it always involves human traits.
What does "the personification of evil" mean?
It means a person who seems to be evil in human form, as if the idea itself had become a person. It is a strong, usually exaggerated phrase.
What is the difference between personification and anthropomorphism?
Personification describes something with human traits for effect. Anthropomorphism makes an animal or object actually behave like a human, often as a full character who talks, dresses and plans.
Can animals be personified?
Yes. "The cat judged my cooking" personifies the cat, because judging food is a human act. If the cat becomes a talking character in a story, that leans toward anthropomorphism.