PERSONIFICATION

Personification is giving human qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics to inanimate (nonliving) objects. For example: The window winked at me. Giving the window a human characteristic of winking is an example of personification. "Bouquets" by Robert Francis One flower at a time, please however small the face. Two flowers are on the flower too many, a distraction. Three flowers in a vase begin to be a little noisy Like cocktail conversation, everybody talking, A crowd of flowers is a crowd of flatterers (forgive me). One flower at a time. I want to hear what it is saying.

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It's not all that difficult to identify personification. Let's look at some more examples together. Identify the object being personified and the meaning of the personification. 1. The wind sang her mournful song through the falling leaves. 2. The microwave timer told me it was time to turn my TV dinner. 3. The video camera observed the whole scene. 4. The strawberries seemed to sing, "Eat me first!" 5. The rain kissed my cheeks as it fell. 6. The daffodils nodded their yellow heads at the walkers. 7. The water beckoned invitingly to the hot swimmers. 8. The snow whispered as it fell to the ground during the early morning hours. 9. The china danced on the shelves during the earthquake. 10. The car engine coughed and sputtered when it started during the blizzard.

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Personify the following sentences. Change the words in parentheses to words that would describe a human's actions. Here are some tips to help you out: Make it move like a person: running, cartwheeling, reaching, etc. Make it sound like a person: shouting, whispering, listening, etc. Give it emotion: sadness, joy, hope, etc.   1. My bedroom door (opened). 2. The puppy (barked) when I left for school. 3. The leaf (fell) from the tree. 4. The flashlight (went on). 5. Hair (is) on my head. 6. The CD player (made a noise). 7. The net (moves) when the basketball goes through. 8. The player piano keys (moved up and down). 9. The space shuttle (took off). 10. The little arrow (moves) across the computer screen.   Now look around the room (or even better, go outside) and find three more things to personify. Try to find things that are doing something human-like. 1.   2.   3.

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"Listen to the Sea"   Use the word lists below to write a poem about nature. Choose a word from List A or a different word that names something in nature. Then choose a word from List B or another word that names an action. Write this word next to the word from List A.   List A sun moon stars sky sea stone night mountain dawn morning waves sand List B tells shows reminds teaches listens remembers brings looks dances dreams guides takes Example: Step 1: pick one word from each column night reminds Step 2: Then expand your words into a sentence. Night, it reminds me of yesterday. Step 3: Repeat the process until you feel that your poem is done. Night, it reminds me of yesterday. The sun listens to the messages of the clouds. Moon, look for me on the field. Sea, guide me to you. Dawn, bring me to the new day.

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Hope you're inspired because now it's time for you to create an original free verse poem that includes the use of personification. Think of images, descriptive words, and figurative language that best describe your theme. Jot them down in web form or in a list as you think of them. Turn your ideas into a paragraph or paragraphs. Go back and break the paragraph into lines. As you do this, revise the lines until they look, feel, and sound right to you. Draft, revise, and edit. Now, for the real test, read it ALOUD. Does it really paint a clear picture? Share your poem with someone else. Listen to his or her critique of your poem. A critique is when someone tells you the strengths and weaknesses of your work. DON'T GET MAD, LISTEN to the suggestions. Revise your work. Remember, the BEST writers are REWRITERS! Give your poem a title. Type and choose a font that adds to the look of your poem. Illustrate your poem.

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