What Is Personification?

Personification is a figurative language

device that involves giving human qualities
to objects or animals.
For example:
“The leaves danced in the wind.”
This sentence personifies the leaves, an
inanimate object, by suggesting that they
are doing something that a human might do.
They aren’t actually dancing but their
movement in the wind can be described this
way to help make the text come to life.
 Your Turn!
The next few slides will have an example
of personification.
For each, first identify what is being
personified, then determine how by
identifying the trait, action or quality that is
being used.

Good Luck!
 The city I live in never sleeps.

What: the city Human action: sleeps

The wind sang through the trees.

What: the wind Human action: sang

That cake is calling my name.

What: the cake

Human action: calling

The camera loves her.

What: the camera

Human action: loves
 The time raced by as we played
outside.

What: the time Human action: raced

The clock screams in my ear.

What: the clock

Human action: screams

 The sun smiled down at me.

What: the sun

Human action: smiled
 But What Do They Mean?
The next few slides will have an example
of personification.
For each, try to identify what the
personification is trying to tell you. If the
animals or objects are not literally doing
these human things, then what does the
sentence really mean?
Good Luck!
My pencil raced across the page.

What does this really mean?

That someone is writing very
quickly, perhaps trying to get
something done or finished
as soon as possible.
The bush fire quickly swallowed up everything in its path.

What does this really mean?

That the fire is moving rapidly and burning everything it touches.
The waves playfully tugged at my feet.

What does this

really mean?

That for someone standing on the beach with their

feet in the water, the motion of the water receding
back might feel like pulling or tugging.
The furious storm pounded our little shelter.

What does this really mean?

That the storm was very strong and loud.