Personification is the giving of human traits to non-human things that cannot have those traits. Dogs can experience fear; therefore, writing about a fearful dog is not personification. Clouds cannot experience anger; therefore, "angry clouds" is personification.

Writing a poem about a talking cat may have personification, but that doesn't mean the personification enhances the emotion of the poetry. Therefore, we need to go more in depth to understand how the use of this poetic device can and should aid the emotions found in the poem. (Note: all poetry, unless otherwise noted, copyright 2005 by Vivian Gilbert Zabel.)

Writing about dark, towering clouds may create a feeling of dread, but look what happens when we use personfication:

The dark, towering clouds rumbled their anger As they smothered the frightened sky in blackness.

Now the emotion - stronger, more pronounced - catches our attention. Of course anger is an emotion, but having the clouds exhibit the anger enhances it.

I often use personification in my poetry, almost subconsciously, because it does add to the intensity of emotion: sighing tree branches, whispering winds, sleeping flowers, frightened sky.

The Chapel

Like a chapel on a rugged crag,
Its steeple pointing upward,
My life doesn’t huddle protected in the valley
Beneath trees that keep the blistering sun at bay.
Walls of stone slow not the power of pounding wind.
No, my chapel fights to withstand the snarling gales,
Baking heat, and freezing chill, unshielded from attack.

Yet, as I gaze around me, eyes wide in wonder
At the panorama spread where e‘er I survey,
The view is worth the struggle, strife, and pain.
Where else can I see what beauty can be found?
Unless I live above the clutter, near the clouds,
Despite the storms that shake life’s walls,
I would miss the majesty that can abound.

The path to my mountain top may be steep
Over the jagged teeth of angry rocks.
Yet the trip merits the difficulty, the distress
Even if a towering tempest hides the sun,
For a rainbow will follow the rain someday,
Even if the storm wipes the chapel away.

In the preceeding poem we find a fighting chapel and angry rocks, both images providing a battle-type emotion.

Personification allows the reader to sense more of the emotion the poet tries to create and share. Practicing the use of personification allows us to be more proficient.

Vivian Gilbert Zabel taught English, composition, and creative writing for twenty-five years, honing her skills as she studied and taught. She is a author on Writers ( http://www.Writing.Com/ ), and her portfolio is http://www.Writing.Com/authors/vzabel. Her books, Hidden Lies and Other Stories and Walking the Earth, can be found through Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

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