Personification is described as attributing human characteristics such as actions, feelings, or thoughts to non-human objects, animals, or abstract concepts. Examples are provided such as "the wind yelled" and "the necklace is a friend." Personification is used to make descriptions more vivid and imaginative. It is also commonly used in other mediums like advertising, music, art, and stories to create memorable anthropomorphic characters. The poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth is given as a famous example of personification.
2. What is Personification?
Where a non-living
object, an animal or an
abstract idea is given
human qualities
The sentence involves a
human action
The poet writes about
the object as if it is a
person
3. For example:
"Wind yells while blowing"
"Wind yells while blowing" is an
example of personification because
wind cannot yell. Only a living thing
can yell.
“Necklace is a friend”
"Necklace is a friend" is an example
of personification because a
necklace is a thing, and necklaces
cannot be friends. Only living things
can have friends.
4. Why
Personify?
Personification can make things easier to
imagine when you read them.
For example, you can’t see the wind, but
if someone wrote “the wind raged with
fierce anger” you might get a better
impression of how the wind blew that
day.
5. Is Personification used in other
mediums apart from Poetry?
Personification is used in many forms
of literature, music, advertising, art
and drama. These may include (but
are not limited to) novels, short
stories, fairytales, sculptures,
television shows, films, and theatre.
6. Personification – Origins
Personification is strongly associated with art
and storytelling where it has ancient roots.
Most cultures possess a long-standing
storytelling tradition with personified animals
as characters. For example in the children’s
story Alice in Wonderland there are several
anthropomorphic characters including the
white rabbit or the cheshire cat.
Artists have always thought there was
something important about the connection
between people and objects.
For example in the drawing to the right the
artist has personified the waves through the
image of a woman.
7. Personification in Advertising
Have any of these "people" ever
appeared in your kitchen: Mr.
Clean (a household cleaner), or
Mr. Muscle (an oven cleaner)?
How about Kellogg’s
Snap, Crackle & Pop Rice
Bubbles (cereal), or Uncle Ben’s
(rice)?
For over a century, companies
have relied heavily on
personification to create
memorable images of their
products--images that often
appear in print advertisements
and TV commercials for those
8. Personification in Music
Musicians and lyricists constantly use
personification to describe
emotions, places, objects or nature in their
songs.
For Example:
Stop & Stare – One Republic
“This town is colder now,
I think it’s sick of us.”
A collection of songs using personification:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKexdSZNiL
c
9. An example of Personification in
a well-known Poem
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and
hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the
trees, Fluttering and dancing in
the breeze.
10. Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
11. References
Cummings, M. (2008). Study Guide: I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud. Retrieved April 26, 2012 from
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/IWandered.htm
l
Nordquist, R. (2012). What is Personification? Retrieved April
24, 2012 from
http://grammar.about.com/od/qaaboutrhetoric/a/faqpersonificat
ion.htm
Packard, W. (1994). The Poet’s Dictionary: A Handbook of
Prosody and Poetic Devices. New York: Collins Reference.
Paxson, J. (1994). The Poetics of Personification. London:
Cambridge University Press.
Wing Jan, L. (2009). Write Ways: Modelling Writing Forms (3rd
ed). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Notas del editor
Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentleman of the Poetry Forum. Today I will be exploring the poetic device of Personification. Before I begin let me read this example for you – read from slide. The moon does not gaze and nature is not a person that hides away. Yet in this extract we (the reader) can interpret these suggestions and see them almost as truths. This is the power of Personification. It is a device that can be used in all forms of literature, including Poetry.
But what is Personificationyou ask? Personification or Anthropomorphism (the official name for the device, coined in the 1700s)is – read from slide above. Examples include animals and plants and forces of nature such as winds, rain or the sundepicted as creatures with human motivations, and/or the abilities to reason and converse.
Let’s have a look at some examples of personification-
So why do poets, artists, writers, singers or playwrights use personification? What is the point? Read from slide.
Whilst Personification is often linked to discussions on Poetry, it is not a device used only for this form of literature. On the contrary (read from slide).
Read from slide.
Read slide first. Giving a human face to a product. Or human characteristics to an abstract idea, like "hunger" or "greed."Personificationcan help advertisers create ads that are more interesting, and relevant to viewers. More human and engaging.Theycan literally turn the product into a person. Or give it human abilities, such as speech, thought or emotion.
Personification is an important device in music as it can help listeners to engage and connect to the feelings and emotions depicted in a song.
William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is a lyric poem focusing on the poet's response to the beauty of nature. A lyric poem presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet rather than telling a story or presenting a witty observation.The final version of the poem, with four stanzas, was first published in Collected Poems in 1815. Wordsworth wrote the earlier version in 1804, two years after seeing the lakeside daffodils that inspired the poem. Throughout this poem Wordsworth has personified different elements of nature including clouds, daffodils and waves. Read the poem from the slides.
Continue reading poem from slide.
Thank you for listening to this short PechaKucha Presentation on Personification in Poetry.