Literary Devices
Idioms
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Examples of Idioms
Personification (Not ANTHROPOMORPHISM)
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Personification means giving of human characteristics to a non-human entity for the purpose of creating figurative language and imagery.
Anthropomorphism, by contrast, is the literal giving of human characteristics to animals and other non-human things, often for the purpose of creating a specific type of character: a non-human being that behaves like a human. Having animals dress, act, and talk like humans is called anthropomorphism.
When we use personification, we don't create characters, but instead simply describe non-human things as possessing human characteristics, like in the sentence, "The wind played hide-and-go-seek among the trees." In this case, the wind didn't actually grow arms, legs, and a mouth to count down from twenty. That would be anthropomorphism. Instead, the wind looks and behaves as wind normally does, but through the power of personification the reader can now imagine the wind's movement in a completely new way, because he or she can now compare that movement to the familiar but different movement of playing hide-and-go-seek.
Even though they are sometimes considered to be the same thing, anthropomorphism is NOT personification.
Anthropomorphism, by contrast, is the literal giving of human characteristics to animals and other non-human things, often for the purpose of creating a specific type of character: a non-human being that behaves like a human. Having animals dress, act, and talk like humans is called anthropomorphism.
When we use personification, we don't create characters, but instead simply describe non-human things as possessing human characteristics, like in the sentence, "The wind played hide-and-go-seek among the trees." In this case, the wind didn't actually grow arms, legs, and a mouth to count down from twenty. That would be anthropomorphism. Instead, the wind looks and behaves as wind normally does, but through the power of personification the reader can now imagine the wind's movement in a completely new way, because he or she can now compare that movement to the familiar but different movement of playing hide-and-go-seek.
Even though they are sometimes considered to be the same thing, anthropomorphism is NOT personification.
Adapted from https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/personification
Examples of Personification
- The wind sang her mournful song through the falling leaves.
- The microwave timer told me it was time to turn my TV dinner.
- The video camera observed the whole scene.
- The rain kissed my cheeks as it fell.
- The daffodils nodded their yellow heads at the walkers.
- The water beckoned invitingly to the hot swimmers.
- The snow whispered as it fell to the ground during the early morning hours.
- The china danced on the shelves during the earthquake.
- The car engine coughed and sputtered when it started during the blizzard.
- The darkness wrapped its arms around me.
- Lightning danced across the sky.
- My alarm clock yells at me to get out of bed every morning.
- The avalanche devoured anything standing in its way.
- The door protested as it opened slowly.
- The moon played hide and seek with the clouds.
- The approaching car's headlights winked at me.
- The stairs groaned as we walked on them.
- Our vacuum hums a happy tune while it cleans.
- My flowers were begging for water.
- The ivy wove its fingers around the fence.
- The thunder was grumbling in the distance.
- The cactus saluted those who drove past.
- The wildfire ran through the forest at an amazing speed.
- The moon smiled at the stars in the sky.
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut…
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
(“When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver)
Onomatopoeia
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Examples of Onomatopoeia
Similes & Metaphors
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Similes |
Metaphors |
Irony
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