How to Use Personification in Writing

Personification is a common technique used by writers of all kinds. Attaching human traits, emotions or behaviors to something that isn't human is basic personification. Giving human characteristics to animals, objects or places is the essence of personification. Using this technique can enhance your poetry, fiction and non-fiction writing by making your pen dance along the willing page. And with that example, this introduction is more alive already. Read on to learn how to use personification in writing.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Use personification to stretch metaphors like a yoga pose. Metaphors and similes have an opportunity to linger with the use of personification.

2. Craft imagery with your personification. Let the your words paint the picture for your readers. A description of an over-loved teddy bear can become, "The bear seemed to appreciate the lengthy squeezes despite himself."

3. Give a unique perspective by using personification. Tolstoy changes perspective at a point in Anna Karenina and the reader follows the dog, Laska, as he chases scent and follows orders. Through Laska, the reader sees, for a brief moment, the blindness of the characters that wouldn't be apparent without the dog's point of view. It also provides the reader an opportunity to step out of all the drama and chuckle at the foolish characters for a moment with Laska.

4. Help your readers understand the mood of your story through personification. A butterfly "twirling like a child in her first tutu" is quite different from a butterfly that "spun and fought with the air as if drowning in the rip tide." Depending on the personification you choose, the reader will feel certain emotional responses.

5. Know your audience. Any writer can use personification, even in such mundane tasks as drafting office memos or technical manuals. For example, you might offer this: "When the computer begins beeping angrily, it's a good time to reboot." Or you could try "The office fridge stinks like the feet of a triathlete on race day; please take home your leftovers."

6. Keep track of your personification, especially gender. If you likened your office fridge to a woman with a penchant for sweating garlic, it is best to continue the femininity of that office fridge in future memos. Switches in personification when it comes to tone or gender can damage the overall impact of your piece.