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PERSONIFICATION
PERSONIFICATION. In RHETORIC, discourse in which animals, plants, elements of nature, and abstract ideas are given human attributes: ‘bask in Heaven's blue smile’ (Shelley). It has been regarded as both a figure in its own right and as an aspect of METAPHOR in which non-human is identified with human: ‘Life can play some nasty tricks’. It is common in VERSE: ‘Slowly, silently, now the moon / Walks the night in her silver shoon’ ( Walter de la Mare, ‘Silver’, 1913). The representation of the moon as female is similar to the application of she to ships, cats, countries, and certain abstractions: ‘He seems to want to destroy poetry as poetry, to exclude her as a vehicle of communication’ ( Eric A. Havelock, Preface to Plato, 1963).
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TOM McARTHUR. "PERSONIFICATION." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. TOM McARTHUR. "PERSONIFICATION." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-PERSONIFICATION.html TOM McARTHUR. "PERSONIFICATION." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-PERSONIFICATION.html |
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personification
per·son·i·fi·ca·tion / pərˌsänəfiˈkāshən/ • n. the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form. ∎ a figure intended to represent an abstract quality: the design on the franc shows Marianne, the personification of the French republic. ∎ [in sing.] a person, animal, or object regarded as representing or embodying a quality, concept, or thing: he was the very personification of British pluck and diplomacy. |
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"personification." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "personification." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-personification.html "personification." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-personification.html |
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personification
personification figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstract ideas are endowed with human qualities, e.g., allegorical morality plays where characters include Good Deeds, Beauty, and Death. John Ruskin termed sentimentalized, exaggerated personification the "pathetic fallacy." See also allegory ; apostrophe ; metonymy . |
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"personification." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "personification." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-personif.html "personification." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-personif.html |
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personification
personification or prosopopeia, a figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or represented as possessing human form, as in ‘Let us flee this cruel shore’ or ‘The leaves laughed in the trees’.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "personification." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "personification." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-personification.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "personification." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-personification.html |
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personification
personification. 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) |
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JAMES STEVENS CURL. "personification." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 1 Jun. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAMES STEVENS CURL. "personification." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (June 1, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-personification.html JAMES STEVENS CURL. "personification." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Retrieved June 01, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-personification.html |
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