personification

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noun

A physical entity typifying an abstraction: embodiment, exteriorization, externalization, incarnation, manifestation, materialization, objectification, personalization, substantiation, type. Rhetoric prosopopeia. See substitute.

personification, a figure of speech by which animals, abstract ideas, or inanimate things are referred to as if they were human, as in Sir Philip Sidney's line:

Invention, Nature's child, fled stepdame Study's blows

This figure or trope, known in Greek as prosopopoeia, is common in most ages of poetry, and particularly in the 18th century. It has a special function as the basis of allegory. In drama, the term is sometimes applied to the impersonation of non‐human things and ideas by human actors.

Verb: personify.

See also pathetic fallacy.

Representation of a human figure with attributes to suggest an abstraction, such as Hope with Anchor. Cesare Ripa's Iconologia (1593) was an important source-book for personification.

Bibliography

• Lampugnani (ed.) & Dinsmoor (1986)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)

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A type of metaphor in which distinctive human characteristics, e.g., honesty, emotion, volition, etc., are attributed to an animal, object or idea.

For a list of words related to personification, see:

• Devices, Techniques, and Elements - personification: representation of an object or abstraction in human form or as an imaginary being
• Rhetoric and Figures of Speech - personification: act of verbally endowing animals, objects, or abstractions with human attributes
• Myths, Legends, and Fables - personification: embodiment of human character in inanimate object or abstract idea

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