What Is Personification: Definition & Examples

Personification can be defined as the attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities or the portrayal of abstract qualities in human form. It is a literary device that is widely used in both literature and everyday language. 

For example, when you say “This homework is killing me,” that’s an example of personification. You are attributing human qualities or capabilities to your difficult homework. 

In literature, personification is used mainly to describe the mood or setting of a scene. It can also be used to embody human emotions by projecting such emotions onto inanimate objects. 

To illustrate the point, let’s look at an example from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (published in 1847): 

But what had befallen the night? The moon was not yet set, and we were all in shadow: I could scarcely see my master’s face, near as I was. And what ailed the chestnut tree? it writhed and groaned; while wind roared in the laurel walk, and came sweeping over us.

This passage is from Chapter 23 after Jane Eyre is happy and excited about saying to Mr. Rochester’s marriage proposal. As the novel progresses, we find out that Mr. Rochester is already married and that her proposal to Jane cannot be legally realized. 

The night and weather are personified as a kind of foreshadowing of the sad news to come and the heartbreak that Jane will suffer as events unfold. The chestnut tree is described as ailing because “it writhed and groaned,” while the wind is described as roaring in laurel walk.  In this article, we discuss some more examples of personification, including from Percy Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind.” 

Portrait of Percy Shelley by Alfred Clint, 1819.

1. Personification in Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” 

Our first example of personification is from Percy Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” (1820): 

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,

Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead

Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Shelley is personifying the wind as the breath of autumn. This means that more than one thing is being personified here. Autumn too is being given human qualities, namely the ability to breathe.

Why does Shelley personify the wind? The purpose is to turn the wind into a kind of metaphor or symbol of the poet’s free spirit. Later in the poem, Shelley writes: 

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:

What if my leaves are falling like its own!

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Shelley is praying to the West Wind as if it were a supernatural being capable of granting him his wishes. And what exactly are these wishes? It is related to his role as a poet. 

In the process, he is creating an analogy between the beauty associated with the sight and sound of autumnal leaves being blown by the wind and his poetry or at least the message of freedom and liberty embodied in his poetry. 

The poet uses beautiful language to describe the sight and sound of autumnal leaves. For example, a line such as “The tumult of thy mighty harmonies” seeks to evoke both the power and beauty of the sight. 

2. Sir Philip Sydney, “With How Sad Steps O Moon” 

Our second example is from Sir Philp Sydney’s famous poem “With How Sad Steps O Moon” otherwise known as “Astrophil and Stella 31” (published in 1582):

With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies!

How silently, and with how wan a face!

What, may it be that even in heav'nly place

That busy archer his sharp arrows tries!

. . .

 . . .    O Moon, tell me,

Is constant love deem'd there but want of wit?

Are beauties there as proud as here they be?

.

The poet is suffering from heartbreak and sees his pain reflected in the full moon. The pale moon is described as having “how wan a face.” The skow course of the moon is compared to a sad heartbroken lover walking slowly and despondently with the famous first line of the poem “With how sad steps . . . thou climb’st the skies.” 

The poet or the speaker of the poem is projecting his emotions unto the moon. This type of personification where human emotion is attributed to things of nature is known as a pathetic fallacy. To learn more about pathetic fallacy, you can check out this prior article: Examining Pathetic Fallacy | With Examples. 

3. Anne Sexton, “The Ambition Bird”

Our fourth example is from an Anne Sexton poem “The Ambition Bird” (published in 1972): 

The business of words keeps me awake.

I am drinking cocoa,

the warm brown mama.

Anne Sexton is personifying a warm drink of cocoa tea into “brown mama.” The poem was written on a night when the poet suffers from insomnia. She drinks cocoa to calm herself. 

The poet derives so much comfort and joy from the drink that it reminds her of a mom taking care of her. It is a rather far-fetched and extravagant comparison. However, it works as it gives a good idea of the depth of comfort that she gets from this little pleasure. 

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4. Matthew Arnold, “Philomela”

Our last example of personification is a poem by Matthew Arnold, and it is also a pathetic fallacy. The poem is Philomela (published in 1853):

Hark! ah, the nightingale—

The tawny-throated!

Hark, from that moonlit cedar what a burst!

What triumph! hark!—what pain!

O wanderer from a Grecian shore,

. . .

Dost thou to-night behold,

Here, through the moonlight on this English grass,

The unfriendly palace in the Thracian wild?

Dost thou again peruse

With hot cheeks and sear'd eyes

The too clear web, and thy dumb sister's shame?

. . .

Listen, Eugenia—

How thick the bursts come crowding through the leaves!

Again—thou hearest?

Eternal passion!

Eternal pain!

In the poem, Arnold hears a nightingale sing, and he treats that nightingale as if it were Philomela. Philomela is a tragic figure from Greek legend, who was turned into a nightingale after being sexually assaulted, mutilated, and taking revenge. 

This is an example of personification that is mixed with a classical allusion to Greek literature. In European tradition the nightingale is associated with the beauty and sadness of song and self-expression through poetry. 

Matthew Arnold is turning the nightingale into a symbol for the complicated pain and triumph of Philomela as represented by the nightingale. Philomela is dignified as she fought to preserve her chastity before being raped and mutilated. 

However, her rape, mutilation, and transformation into a non-human creature is a trauma that she is transfixed in. As far as Matthew Arnold is concerned, this perfectly captures the tragic human condition. This is what he means when he says “Eternal Passion! / Eternal Pain!” 

Humans are trapped in an eternal cycle of human suffering, which they then have the ability to turn into art or poetry, as symbolized by the nightingale’s song. 

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2025, June  03). What Is Personification: Definition & Examples. EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/what-is-personification