personification

Personification is a figure of speech in which human qualities, ambitions, or actions are attributed to non-human things, such as animals, objects, or abstract concepts. The term comes from Latin persona meaning mask or character. In literary use, personification often serves as a rhetorical device to illuminate ideas and create vivid imagery. It is distinct from anthropomorphism, which presents non-human beings with human form and behavior in a more literal sense; personification focuses on implying human traits through description rather than reimagining the entity as a full human.

In practice, personification appears in poetry, prose, and rhetoric with expressions such as “the wind roared,” “Death strode,” or “Justice was blind.” It can animate the inanimate or abstract concepts, turning them into characters that listeners or readers can relate to emotionally. Across cultures, personification also appears in myth and religion, where abstractions like Fortune, Time, or Justice are imagined as deities with human motives and stories. Visual and cultural artifacts extend the device, notably in national personifications such as Britannia or Marianne, which embody nations as recognizable female figures.

The device remains widely used for allegory, satire, and moral instruction, enabling writers to convey complex ideas through relatable imagery. While effective, it can risk cliché if overused. Related concepts include prosopopoeia, where an absent or imagined entity speaks as if present, a broader rhetorical technique that intersects with personification in practice.