Literary terms · AP English Literature, AP English Language, SAT Reading and Writing, ACT Reading
Personification
Personification: Giving human qualities, actions or feelings to animals, objects or ideas.
By the CollegePrepRoom editorial team · Updated · How we write and check these pages
What it means
Personification makes non-human things act or feel like people: the wind whispers, the house sighs, time steals. It can make abstract ideas concrete and reveal how the speaker or narrator perceives the world.
Analysis should explain which human quality is given and why it matters to the meaning.
Example
'The city swallowed him' suggests the city is a living, consuming force and the character is powerless against it.
On the exam
Personification is common. Credit comes from explaining its effect precisely.
Lessons and practice questions
Related terms
- MetaphorA figure of speech that describes one thing as if it were another, without using like or as, to suggest a resemblance.
- ApostropheA figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person, an object or an abstract idea.
- ImageryDescriptive language that appeals to the senses to create vivid experiences and convey meaning.