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What is personification?

Personification is giving an inanimate object human feelings or actions.

Describing objects as if they are people is a way of making sentences more exciting.

Examples of personification

• Death stalked the battlefield. Death is being portrayed as a figure or person hunting for someone.
• The thirsty flowers seemed to reach out and beg for water. The flowers cannot reach or beg. This makes their need seem human and emphasises how badly they needed water.
• The apple sat proud as punch at the top of the fruit bowl. The personification of the proud apple and its position at the top of the fruit bowl makes it seem more appealing.
• Jess's heart is racing at 100 miles per hour. The hear cannot take part in a human activity like a race. The word racing combined with the speed of 100 miles per hour gives the reader a picture of the huge level of stress or excitement Jess is feeling.

What is pathetic fallacy?

Pathetic fallacy is giving human emotions/feelings to naturally-occurring things, usually weather.

This technique involves giving human emotions to non-human objects. It often creates atmosphere by suggesting that the weather or other natural phenomena have feelings – feelings that might reflect the emotions of the characters.

Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy in Romeo and Juliet:

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon

Romeo and Juliet (Act Two, Scene Two, Line Four)

Here Romeo suggests that the moon is envious of Juliet's beauty. The moon cannot actually feel envy. This just highlights that Juliet is so beautiful that even the moon, often a symbol of nature's beauty, is jealous.

What is the difference between personification and pathetic fallacy?

It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between personification and pathetic fallacy.