Personification
What do these three sentences have in
common?
• "The ancient car groaned into third gear."
"The cloud scattered rain throughout the
city."
"The tropical storm slept for two days."
The ancient car groaned into third
gear?
• Can a car groan?
"The cloud scattered rain throughout
the city."
• Do clouds scatter things?
"The tropical storm slept for two
days."
• Do storms sleep?
Personification!
• A figure of speech that gives the qualities of a
person to an animal, an object, or an idea.
Example: “The wind yelled all night long.”
The wind cannot yell. Only a living thing can yell.
This is personification!
Examples of Personification
• The moon smiled down upon the sleeping city.
Examples of Personification
• The piano sang a beautiful song to all in the
audience.
Examples of Personification
• My computer hates me.
Examples of Personification
• The camera loves me.
Examples of Personification
• Opportunity knocked on the door.
Examples of Personification
• The sun greeted me this morning
Practice on Handout!
• Read each sentence.
• Underline the object being personified.
• Describe what the sentence means.
Personifying Objects
• For the object, give it a human characteristic.
Leaves on
a windy day.
Personifying Objects
• For the object, give it a human characteristic.
A light bulb.
Personifying Objects
• For the object, give it a human characteristic.
An alarm clock.
Practice on Handout
• Personify the sentences!
– Rewrite each sentence and change the words in
parentheses to words that would describe a
human's actions.
Why do author’s use
personification?
• Personification creates imagery!
– What is imagery?
– How does personification help create images in
our minds as we read?
Quick Review
• What is a simile?
• What is a metaphor?
How do similes and metaphors
create imagery?
Which type of figurative language?
Simile? Metaphor? Personification?
1. We would have had more pizza to eat if
Tammy hadn’t been such a hog.
* What is being compared?
* What does this mean?
* What imagery does this
create in a reader’s mind?
Which type of figurative language?
Simile? Metaphor? Personification?
1. The front door screeched as I slowly opened
it to sneak into my house.
* What is being compared?
* What does this mean?
* What imagery does this
create in a reader’s mind?
Which type of figurative language?
Simile? Metaphor? Personification?
1. Physical exercise is like medicine for some
people.
* What is being compared?
* What does this mean?
* What imagery does this
create in a reader’s mind?
Practice
• Chart on Handout
• Ode to Mi Gato