Personification — Literature, 7–10 years
Give a non-human thing a human action or feeling to make an idea vivid. Literature, 7–10 years.
When things act like people
Personification is a way of describing a non-human thing as if it could think, feel or act like a person. A writer might say that the sun smiled or that the old house groaned. The sun does not have a face, but the human action helps you imagine its effect.
Why writers personify
A plain sentence can tell you that a storm is strong, but personification can show how it seems to behave. Saying “the storm clawed at the roof” makes the danger feel active and threatening. Writers have used this method for a long time because human actions give unfamiliar things a shape readers can picture.
Spotting personification
Read: “The alarm clock shouted at Ben, and the morning refused to begin.” Step 1: find the non-human things: clock and morning. Step 2: find the human actions: shouting and refusing. Step 3: explain the effect: Ben experiences the alarm as harsh, while the slow morning feels stubborn and difficult.
Do not read it literally
A child may imagine that a talking sun or angry door must really exist in the story. That is reasonable because the sentence uses ordinary human verbs. Check whether the subject is non-human and whether the action is impossible for it; then read the phrase as an image of an effect or feeling.
Personification around you
You may meet personification in poems, songs, adverts and product names. A slogan might say that a drink “wakes you up”, or a weather report might say that the wind “is pushing in”. These phrases can make a message memorable, but they do not mean the object has human thoughts.
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