Personification
In Beverly Cleary’s Words
“Minutes crawled by. The long
Oregon dusk turned into night.
The girls turned on the
television set to a program
about people in a hospital . . .”
Can minutes really crawl?
So if she wasn’t being literal, what do you
think Beverly Cleary meant when she said
that the minutes crawled by?
In Ramona Forever time went by so
slowly for Ramona and her sister that
it seemed like the minutes were
crawling.
Beverly Cleary was using a
writing technique called:
PERSONIFICATION
What is personification?
Personification is when you describe
nonliving things by using human
actions or emotions.
Sometimes a writer will give human
characteristics to nonhuman things. Objects,
ideas, or places may be given human
qualities. They may perform human actions.
It helps the writer create an exciting picture
in the reader’s mind.
Still confused? Don’t worry – let’s
look at some examples to help
understand personification better.
For example: The window winked at
me.
Look at the window. Do you
see it winking?
No, or course you don’t. Windows
can’t wink.
The verb, wink, is a human action. A
window is a non-living object.
The sun danced across the sky on
the hot summer day.
The teapot on the stove screeched
when it finally got hot.
The pencil screamed as the
boy turned the handle on
the pencil sharpener.
AAHHHH!
The old car groaned as it made its
way down the long open road.
I can’t
make it!
Her frown let me know she
wasn’t a very happy
camper.
The tall grass danced in the
breeze.
The flames ate hungrily at
the burning house.
When I opened my dryer
door, it spit out a few socks
onto the floor.
Now you try!
•
Read the sentence, think about the meaning,
notice how personification creates a word picture.
•
Identify the personification in each sentence.
1.
The _____________
fog crept silently into the valley.
2.
The ________________
tree fought the wind with its branches
3.
The ____________________________
computer devoured information all day
long.
4.
The hikers left the meadow and were
___________________________________
swallowed by the forest.
Personification (figurative
language)
Here are a few more!
5. The wind
sang her mournful song through
_____________
_
the falling
leaves.
6. The microwave ______________
timer told me it was time
to turn my TV dinner.
7. The video ________________________
camera observed the whole
scene.
8. The strawberries
sing, "Eat me
__________________ seemed to ______
first!"
Personification (figurative
language)
Personification, Yes or No?
•I
smiled as the wind blew on my face.
• The
•I
wind massaged my face.
sighed as I sat on the chair.
• The
chair sighed and groaned as I sat on it.
• The
vacuum made a loud noise when the
janitor was vacuuming.
• The
vacuum screamed like a banshee as the
janitor vacuumed.
Can you think of your
own example of
personification for
leaves falling to the
ground from the tree?
• The
leaves danced to the ground
• The
leaves hopped off the tree
• The
leaves waved goodbye to the
tree
• The
leaves cried out in pain as
they fell from the tree
USING PERSONIFICATION
• Write
three sentences that use
personification.
•
Be sure to give some human quality to some
nonhuman thing.
• Make
sure to use correct capitalization and
punctuation.
• Put
your name on the paper and give it to
me when you are done.
Personification (figurative
language)
Map Tap
With your group, determine the
object being personified and what
the personification is.
1. The winter wrapped its icy claws around Northeast Pennsylvania.
2. The alarm clock screeched that it was time to get up.
3. Fear grabbed me as I heard footsteps behind me.
4. The washer sputtered and groaned as it removed the mud from the
knees of my old jeans.
5. The printer spit out more copies than I needed.
6. The branches of the tree pointed to the old dirt road.
7. The flood waters swallowed the trees in one big gulp.
8. The stars winked at us from the night sky.
9. Listening to the piano sing its happy tune made me want to dance.
(figurative cake with the cream cheese icing is calling my name.
10.Personification
That carrot
language)
Map Tap
PERSONIFICATION Practice
Lets’ check to see if you can
recognize personification.
Decide whether the following are personification or not.
1.) Walking desks took
over town.
Is it personification?
Yes!
Desks don’t walk. Humans do.
Got it?
2.) I listen to the wind.
Is it personification?
No!
The wind is audible, but might not have human
characteristics in this instance.
Try another…
3.) The dog stares
carefully at me.
Is it personification?
Nope.
Dogs, like you and I, can stare. Nothing especially
human about it.
Get that one right?
How about this one!
4.) The snake loves
food.
Is it personification?
No, again!
In this example, snakes loving food means they like to
eat. Nothing more.
Couple more…
5.) Moon dances around
my fear.
Is it personification?
Absolutely.
Human beings can dance. Moons cannot.
Doing well?
6.) The thought
lumbered around in my
mind.
Is it personification?
Yes!
Thoughts don’t generally lumber.
Two more!
7.) Ronnie Johnson
smiles at the fox.
Is it personification?
No way!
Ronnie Johnson is a person. The fox has
nothing to do with smiling.
Last one!
8.) Wind whispers like a
tree in the breeze
Is it personification?
Yes!
Winds don’t whisper, people do.
That was it!
Poets often use this form of
figurative language to create
exciting visual images with
words.
Where do you see personification in
this poem?
Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow Room
“Ah, William, we’re weary
_______ of weather,”
said
______ the sunflowers, shining with dew.
“Our traveling
__________ habits
_____ us.
_______ have tired
Can you give us a room with a view?”
They arranged
___________ themselves at the window
and counted
__________ the steps
_______ of the sun,
and they both took root in the carpet
where the topaz tortoises run.
What characteristics does
this snow have?
SNOW
Snow speaks to the people its
falling above in the glooming
sunlight.
Its white sparkling voice
echoes
as it falls through
the air.
By Jake
"Summer Grass"
Summer grass aches and whispers
It wants something: it calls and sings; it pours
out wishes to the overhead stars.
The rain hears; the rain answers; the rain is slow coming;
The rain wets the face of the grass.
By Carl Sandburg
“April Rain Song”
Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver
liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at
night.
And I love the rain.
by Langston Hughes