What Is Personification? KS3 English Explained

Personification gives human qualities, feelings, or actions to non-human things — objects, animals, ideas, or natural forces. When a poet writes "the wind howled" or "the sun smiled down", they are using personification. The wind cannot truly howl; the sun cannot smile. The technique makes a scene feel alive and emotionally charged.

How does personification work?

Personification works by inviting the reader to respond emotionally to something that would otherwise be merely physical or abstract. A "crumbling building" describes a state; a "building that hunched in on itself, ashamed" makes the reader feel the building's defeat as though it were a person's.

The human qualities most commonly given to non-human things include:

Actions — "the branches clawed at the window"

Emotions — "the sea raged"

Speech or thought — "the silence whispered a warning"

Physical posture — "the old tower leaned over the village"

How is personification different from a metaphor?

Personification is a specific type of metaphor where the "other thing" being compared to is always a human being (or human experience). All personification is metaphor, but not all metaphor is personification.

Technique | Comparison | Example
Metaphor | X is compared to any other thing | "The road was a silver ribbon"
Personification | X is given specifically human qualities | "The road twisted and turned like a restless sleeper"

What are some clear examples of personification?

Here are examples from literature and everyday use, with a note on the effect each creates:

"The daffodils tossed their heads in sprightly dance." (Wordsworth) — gives the flowers joy and playfulness, so the scene feels celebratory rather than simply natural.

"The old house watched them from the hill." — gives the house awareness and intent, creating unease.

"Fear crept up his spine." — fear becomes something physically present, almost a creature.

"The city never sleeps." — the city is imagined as a tireless human being, suggesting relentless energy.

How do you analyse personification in a KS3 essay?

Follow the same four steps as for any figurative language:

Identify the personification and quote the relevant phrase.

State which human quality has been given to the non-human thing.

Explain what this implies about the thing being described.

Say what effect this creates for the reader — does it create fear, warmth, menace, sadness?

Worked example annotation: In the phrase "the river swallowed the fallen tree whole", the writer personifies the river by giving it the human (and predatory) action of swallowing. This implies the river is not merely powerful but deliberately consuming — it seems to have appetite and intent. The reader is made to feel the river as a threat rather than a natural force, which creates a sense of danger and makes the landscape feel hostile.

Notice the annotation moves from technique → human quality → implication → reader effect. That progression earns marks.

Why do writers use personification?

Writers use personification for three main reasons:

To create atmosphere: Giving weather or landscape human emotions quickly establishes the mood of a scene without stating it directly. A storm that "raged" feels violent; one that "murmured" feels ominous but quiet.

To make abstract ideas concrete: "Justice was blind" or "opportunity knocked" turn ideas into figures the reader can picture.

To create empathy: When an object or creature seems to feel or act like a person, the reader projects human feeling onto it, which deepens their emotional response to the scene.

How do you use personification in your own writing?

The most common mistake is choosing a human action that is too expected — "the wind blew" does not personify, and "the wind roared" barely does, because it is so familiar. To write fresh personification:

Decide what you want the reader to feel about this thing (threatening, mournful, playful?).

Think of a human action that captures precisely that feeling.

Choose the most unexpected, specific version of that action.

For example, instead of "the fog rolled in", consider "the fog arrived without knocking" — the fog is given the quality of an unwelcome guest who does not wait for permission, which is stranger and more unnerving than the conventional image.

Frequently asked questions

What is personification in simple terms?

Personification is when you give a non-human thing — such as an animal, an object, or a force of nature — human qualities or actions. For example, "the wind whispered through the trees" gives the wind the human action of whispering.

Is "the stars danced" personification?

Yes. Stars cannot dance — dancing is a human action. Giving the stars the action of dancing is personification. It makes the night sky seem joyful and animated rather than distant and cold.

How do you identify personification in a poem?

Look for non-human things doing things that only humans can do: feeling emotions, speaking, thinking, making deliberate choices, or adopting physical postures. If the subject of a verb is a non-human thing, ask whether the verb describes a distinctly human action or quality.

What is the difference between personification and anthropomorphism?

Personification gives human qualities to a thing for effect in a piece of writing — it is a literary technique. Anthropomorphism is a broader concept: it describes the sustained presentation of animals or objects as if they have human personalities, as in a fable where animals talk and make decisions. A one-line personification is not anthropomorphism; a whole story about a talking fox with human feelings and motives is.

For Socratic English practice on personification and figurative language, see aitutors.me.