personifying the poetic life

Personification in Poetry: Personification breathes life into poetry, invoking sensory feelings and serving as the foundation for imagery. Personification is a poetic device where plants, intangible ideas, and inanimate objects are given human qualities — resulting in a poem full of imagery and description. In fact, personification is a form of metaphor that allows poets to create motion, life, or thought within nonhuman objects.

Personification is often confused with anthropomorphism, which is a literary device that captures an instance when human characteristics or qualities are applied to animals or deities instead of inanimate objects or intangible ideas. Anthropomorphism is often found in Greek dramas, where the gods would assume animal personas to interfere in human actions and relationships. An example of such a Greek story would be the story of Zeus and Leda, where the Olympian God took the form of a swan and seduced Leda, an Aetolian princess. Successful personification establishes a connection that resonates with the audience — this process demands creativity to find and develop that comparison and poetic skill to execute the aforementioned creativity.

Patricia L. Cisco’s “Sing To Me, Autumn” includes an example of compelling personification, “Sing to me, Autumn, with the rustle of your leaves. Breathe on me your spicy scents that flow within your breeze. Dance with me, Autumn, your waltz that bends the boughs of trees.” This poem personifies the season of autumn, invoking an image of vibrant colors, the aroma of the woods and spice in the air, and the transition from the heat of summer into the cool of winter. Personification allows the author to bend the rules of poetry — to effectively express their creative imaginations.

Taeyeon Han is a student in California. His writing appears or is forthcoming in The National Poetry Quarterly, Eunoia Review, and American Library of Poetry. He has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, the Pulitzer Center, and finger comma toes. Other than creative writing, Taeyeon loves to read historical fiction, sing at karaoke, and find new restaurants.