Personification

Personification gives a thing, an animal or an idea human actions or feelings: The wind whispered through the trees. It helps the reader picture a scene and feel its mood.

Key facts

  • Personification: a thing does something only a person can do: The sun smiled. The old door groaned. The stars winked.
  • Personification helps the reader picture a scene and feel its mood: The angry sea sounds dangerous; The leaves danced sounds happy.
  • Don't mix it up with a simile, which compares using like or as: The lake was like a mirror.

Worked examples

Example 1

Which word makes this personification? The thunder grumbled in the distance.

  1. People grumble when they complain.
  2. Thunder can't really grumble: grumbled is the personification.

Answer: grumbled

Example 2

Turn this into personification: The wind blew the leaves.

  1. Choose something a person does: chase, whisper, dance.
  2. Give that action to the wind: chased makes it seem playful and alive.

Answer: The wind chased the leaves down the street.

Example 3

Find the personification and say what it shows: The old house groaned in the storm.

  1. Houses can't groan: people do, so groaned is personification.
  2. Ask what it suggests: the house sounds old, tired and a little frightening.

Answer: groaned: the house seems tired and in pain, which makes it feel old and creepy.

Example 4

Personification or hyperbole? The city never sleeps.

  1. Sleeping is something people do.
  2. The city is given a human action, so it is personification.

Answer: personification

Example 5

How does personification create mood? The fog crept through the streets, swallowing the lamps one by one.

  1. Find the human or animal actions: crept, swallowing.
  2. Ask how they feel: sneaky and hungry, so the scene feels menacing.

Answer: crept and swallowing make the fog seem alive and hungry, creating a threatening, uneasy mood.