Figurative Language: Personification

This can be so much fun when it's done right. 

Personification is giving human traits to something non-human.  Here are a few examples:  "the sky was crying,"  "the trees danced in the wind," "the car groaned in protest," etc. 

Personification is a great way to describe something.  It can make a clearer picture for your reader.  Take a look at this boring description:

• I could hear sound of the water in the brook. 

Adding a little personification can make it much more fun:

• I could hear the giggling sound of the water in the brook. 

Common words used to given personification include: smile, dance, cry, sigh, groan, giggle, laugh, roar, whisper, and run.  

Be careful though, a little personification can go a long way.  You don't want a paragraph to look like this:

• The sun smiled upon the dancing field of grain as the trees stretched and yawned.  The air sighed, greeting the morning, the dawn running across the sky.  The ground laughed as the animals tickled the earth.

It just becomes a little much after a while.  

Also, don't confuse Personification with Anthropomorphism, which is where you make something not human, human-like...such as Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny.   Mice and bunnies aren't really like humans, but it's fun to imagine they are in cartoons and such.  That's anthropomorphism, not personification. 

Until next time, I remain you faithful Online Writing Tutor,

Mrs. B