Personification

What is Personification? 

It is a figurative language, which indicates that the words cannot be interpreted literally or precisely. 

Consider the following example. “That pizza is calling my name,” says the pizza, who cannot speak. Personification is demonstrated by the phrase “calling my name.” The pizza, a nonhuman entity, is being endowed with a human quality: the ability to converse. 

This is what it means to be personified. 

Personification involves the verbs in a sentence. This makes sense because often personification is creating action for non-human or nonliving things, giving them a human or lifelike quality. 

Fireflies danced as the moon smiled down upon the kids is an example of personification. Fireflies don’t dance, and the moon doesn’t smile, but this descriptive use of personification gives human characteristics to both the fireflies and the moon creating a better image. 

Example:

The moon is smiling at us. 

The tree was begging for water 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 

Take a Poem to Lunch 

Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room 

That pizza is calling my name is a figurative expression for “that pizza looks great.” 

My Car died. A car is a nonliving object, hence it cannot die if it is never alive. So, it is an example of personification 

Sun glared angrily upon the desert.  

The skyscraper was so tall that it kissed the sky