Personification

1. Personification It’s ALIVE!

2. Personification: Giving human characteristics to inanimate/nonhuman objects or concepts Example:The strange plants were basking in the sunshine, and now and then nodding gently to one another, as if in acknowledgement of sympathy • “Rappaccini’s Daughter” Nathaniel Hawthorne • Plants cannot bask, nod, acknowledge, or have sympathy

3. Personification: Showing imagery, animals, and ideas as having personalities and intelligence Example: Passion will choose his own time to rush upon the scene, and linger sluggishly behind when events would summon his appearance • “Rappaccini’s Daughter” Nathaniel Hawthorne • Passion doesn’t have gender nor can it decide

4. The purpose of personification • Personification creates meaning on human level • Humans interpret world through thoughts/emotions • Humans easily relate to thoughts and emotions • Personified descriptions, examples, and imagery more relatable for audience

5. Purpose of Personification • Enlivens descriptions/imagery • Allows inanimate objects/concepts to somewhat communicate a point of view • Allows audience to expand knowledge and understanding of descriptions

6. Impact of Personification • Personification creates lively and imaginative descriptions/images • Audience is not overwhelmed by long descriptive passages, but is instead entertained by them

7. One last example… Example: With each tick the clock handed him a glass of champagne, another of fine brandy, a cigar costing one guinea. The clock laid them on the table beside him as the ten minutes passed • “The Duchess and the Jeweler” Virginia Woolf