Personification: GCSE English Definition

What is personification?

In GCSE English Literature and GCSE English Language, personification is a literary device that gives human characteristics to non-human objects, animals or abstract things. 

Why do writers use personification?

Personification is an example of figurative language, which helps a writer add more meaning or non-literal meaning to the thing they are describing. It can enhance the description, making it more vivid, or be used to attach symbolic meaning to the thing being described.

Examples of personification

“Terror ran down my spine”

Terror — an abstract concept — is personified here to add immediacy and dynamism to the description of the narrator’s fear.

“Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon” — Romeo, Act 2, Scene 2

After the lovers’ first meeting in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo compares Juliet to the sun while at the same time personifying the moon. Shakespeare does this to emphasise Romeo’s infatuation with Juliet. Compared to Juliet, even the moon (usually an object associated with beauty) is a “sick” woman “pale with grief”. 

Revision resources to ace your exams

Learn how to analyse personification in literary texts and how to use personification in your own creative writing with our GCSE revision notes.

GCSE English literature revision notes 

GCSE English language revision notes

For more literary techniques, check out our list of 127 top literary devices, complete with student-friendly definitions.