Personification is giving human traits to non-human things that cannot have those traits. Dogs can experience fear; therefore, writing about a fearful dog is not an embodiment. Clouds cannot experience anger; therefore, “angry clouds” is personification.
Writing a poem about a talking cat may have personification, but that doesn’t mean that personification enhances the emotion of the poetry. Therefore, we need to dig deeper to understand how the use of this poetic device can and should help the emotions found in the poem. (Note: all poetry, unless otherwise noted, copyright 2005 by Vivian Gilbert Zabel).
Writing on dark, towering clouds can create a sense of dread, but look what happens when we use impersonation:
The dark and towering clouds rumbled their anger
As they smothered the scared sky in the dark.
Now the emotion, stronger, more pronounced, catches our attention. Of course anger is an emotion, but making the clouds show anger enhances it.
I often use personification in my poetry, almost unconsciously, because it increases the intensity of the emotion: sighing tree branches, whispering winds, sleeping flowers, scared sky.
The chapel
Like a chapel on a steep rock,
Its steeple points upwards,
My life is not piled up protected in the valley
Beneath the trees that keep the scorching sun at bay.
Stone walls do not slow down the power of the wind.
No, my chapel struggles to withstand the strong gales,
Scorching heat and bitter cold, no protection against attack.
However, as I look around, my eyes widen in amazement
In the extended panorama where I look,
The view is worth it, the fight and the pain.
Where else can I see the beauty to be found?
Unless I live above the clutter, close to the clouds,
Despite the storms that shake the walls of life,
I would miss the majesty that can abound.
The road to the top of my mountain can be steep
On the jagged teeth of raging rocks.
However, the journey deserves the difficulty, the anguish
Even if a mighty storm hides the sun,
Because a rainbow will follow the rain one day
Even if the storm sweeps through the chapel.
In the poem above we find a chapel of fighting and raging rocks, both images provide a battle-type emotion.
The personification allows the reader to feel more of the emotion that the poet tries to create and share. Practicing the use of personification allows us to be more competent.