Personification scientific name. What is personification, or Why does the wind blow

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Personification is a technique when the author endows inanimate objects with human properties.
To create imagery and give expressiveness to speech, authors resort to literary techniques; personification in literature is no exception.

The main goal of the technique is to transfer human qualities and properties to an inanimate object or phenomenon of the surrounding reality.

Writers use these artistic techniques in their works. Personification is one of the types of metaphor, for example:

D The trees have woken up, the grass is whispering, fear has crept up.

Personification: the trees woke up as if alive

Thanks to the use of personifications in their presentations, the authors create an artistic image that is bright and unique.
This technique allows you to expand the possibilities of words when describing feelings and sensations. You can convey a picture of the world, express your attitude towards the depicted object.

The history of the appearance of personification

Where did personification come from in the Russian language? This was facilitated by animism (belief in the existence of spirits and souls).
Ancient people endowed inanimate objects with souls and living qualities. This is how they explained the world that surrounded them. Due to the fact that they believed in mystical creatures and gods, a pictorial device was formed, like personification.

All poets are interested in the question of how to correctly apply techniques in artistic presentation, including when writing poetry?

If you are an aspiring poet, you need to learn how to use personification correctly. It should not just be in the text, but play a certain role.

A relevant example is present in Andrei Bitov’s novel “Pushkin House”. In the introductory part literary work the author describes the wind that circles over St. Petersburg, the entire city is described from the point of view of the wind. In the prologue, the main character is the wind.

Impersonation Example expressed in Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s story “The Nose”. What’s most interesting is that the main character’s nose is not only described by methods of personification, but also by methods of personification (a part of the body is endowed with human qualities). The main character's nose became a symbol of his doubles.

Sometimes authors make mistakes when using impersonation. They confuse it with allegories (expressions in a specific image) or anthropomorphisms(transfer of human mental properties to natural phenomena).

If in a work you give human qualities to any animal, then such a technique will not act as personification.
It is impossible to use allegory without the help of personification, but this is another figurative device.

What part of speech is personification?

Personification must bring the noun into action, animate and create an impression on it so that the inanimate object can exist like a person.

But in this case, personification cannot be called a simple verb - it is a part of speech. She has more features than the verb. It gives speech brightness and expressiveness.
Using techniques in fictional writing allows writers to say more.

Personification - literary trope

In literature you can find colorful and expressive phrases that are used to animate objects and phenomena. In other sources, another name for this literary technique is personalization, that is, when an object and phenomenon are embodied by anthropomorphisms, metaphors, or humanization.

Examples of personification in Russian

Both personalization and epithets with allegories contribute to the embellishment of phenomena. This creates a more impressive reality.

Poetry is rich in harmony, flight of thoughts, dreaminess and colorful words.
If you add a technique such as personalization to a sentence, it will sound completely different.
Personalization as a technique in a literary work appeared due to the fact that the authors sought to endow folklore characters from ancient greek myths heroism and greatness.

How to distinguish personification from metaphor?

Before you start drawing parallels between concepts, you need to remember what personification and metaphor are?

Metaphor is a word or phrase that is used in figuratively. It is based on comparing some objects with others.

For example:
Bee from a wax cell
Flies for field tribute

The metaphor here is the word “cell,” that is, the author meant a beehive.
Personification is the animation of inanimate objects or phenomena; the author endows inanimate objects or phenomena with the properties of living things.

For example:
Silent nature will be comforted
And playful joy will reflect

Joy cannot think, but the author endowed it with human properties, that is, he used such a literary device as personification.
Here the first conclusion suggests itself: metaphor - when the author compares a living object with a non-living one, and personification - non-living objects acquire the qualities of living things.

What is the difference between metaphor and personification?

Let's look at an example: diamond fountains are flying. Why is this a metaphor? The answer is simple, the author hid the comparison in this phrase. In this combination of words we can put ourselves comparative union, we get the following - fountains are like diamonds.

Sometimes a metaphor is called a hidden comparison, since it is based on a comparison, but the author does not formalize it with the help of a conjunction.

Using personification in conversation

All people use personification when speaking, but many people don't know about it. It is used so often that people have stopped noticing it. A striking example personifications in colloquial speech- finance sings romances (it is human nature to sing, and finance has been endowed with this property), so we got a personification.

Use a similar technique in colloquial speech - give it visual expressiveness, brightness and interest. Anyone who wants to impress their interlocutor uses this.

Despite this popularity, personification is more often found in artistic presentations. Authors from all over the world cannot ignore this artistic technique.

Personification and fiction

If we take a poem by any writer (no matter Russian or foreign), then on any page, in any work, we will encounter a lot of literary devices, including personifications.

If the artistic presentation is a story about nature, then describe natural phenomena the author will be using impersonation, example: the frost painted all the glass with patterns; walking through the forest you can notice how the leaves whisper.

If the product is from love lyrics, then the authors use personification as an abstract concept, for example: you could hear love singing; their joy rang, melancholy ate him from the inside.
Political or social lyrics also include personifications: and the homeland is our mother; With the end of the war, the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Personification and anthropomorphisms

Personification is a simple figurative device. And it’s not difficult to define it. The main thing is to be able to distinguish it from other techniques, namely anthropomorphism, because they are similar.

Personification is the endowment of inanimate objects with the signs and properties of a person [... Star speaks to star (L.); The earth sleeps in a blue radiance... (L.)]. Personification is one of the most common tropes. The tradition of its use goes back to oral folk poetry (Don’t make noise, mother, green oak tree, don’t bother me, good fellow, think about it...).

Personifications are used to describe natural phenomena, things surrounding a person that are endowed with the ability to feel, think, act

A special type of personification is personification (from Latin persona - face, facere - to do) - complete likening of an inanimate object to a person. In this case, objects are not endowed with private characteristics of a person (as in personification), but acquire a real human appearance:

Allegory

Allegory (Gr. allēgoria - allegory, from allos - other, agoreúo - I say) is the expression of abstract concepts in specific artistic images. For example, in fables and fairy tales, stupidity and stubbornness are embodied in the image of a Donkey, cowardice in the image of a Hare, and cunning in the image of a Fox. Allegorical expressions can receive an allegorical meaning: autumn has come can mean “old age has come.”

Individual author's allegories often take on the character of an expanded metaphor, receiving a special compositional solution. For example, A.S. Pushkin’s allegory underlies the figurative system of poems “Arion”, “Anchar”, “Prophet”, “Nightingale and Rose”; at M.Yu. Lermontov - poems “Dagger”, “Sail”, “Cliff”, etc.

Metonymy

Metonymy (from the gr. metonomadzo - to rename) is the transfer of a name from one object to another based on their contiguity. For example: Porcelain and bronze on the table (P

The metonymy of definitions is of interest. For example, in Pushkin the combination of over-starched impudence characterizes one of the secular guests. Of course, in terms of meaning, the definition overstarched can only be attributed to nouns that name some details of a fashionable dandy’s toilet, but in figurative speech such a transfer of the name is possible. IN fiction there are examples of such metonymy (Then a short old man with astonished glasses came. - Boone

Antonomasia

A special type of metonymy is antonomasia (gr. antonomasia - renaming) - a trope consisting in the use of one's own name in the meaning of a common noun. Hercules is sometimes figuratively called strong man. The use of the words Don Quixote, Don Juan, Lovelace, etc., in a figurative sense, has become firmly established in the language.

The names of famous public and political figures, scientists, and writers also acquire common meaning [We all look to Napoleons... (P.)].

An inexhaustible source of antonomasia is ancient mythology and literature.

However, antonomasia, based on the rethinking of names, still retains its expressive power historical figures, writers and literary heroes. Publicists use this trope most often in headlines.

Synecdoche

A type of metonymy is synecdoche in the use of the name of a part instead of the whole, a particular instead of a general, and vice versa. (A yellow leaf flies inaudibly from the birch trees.) (Free thought and scientific audacity broke their wings about the ignorance and inertia of the political system

An epithet (from the gr. epitheton - application) is a figurative definition of an object or action (The moon makes its way through the wavy fogs, it pours a sad light onto the sad meadows. - P.).

There are exact red viburnums

(Golden autumn, tear-stained windows),

Epithets are most often colorful definitions expressed by adjectives

The creation of figurative epithets is usually associated with the use of words in a figurative meaning (cf.: lemon juice - lemon moonlight; a gray-haired old man - gray-haired fog; he lazily waved away mosquitoes - the river lazily rolls waves).

Epithets expressed in words that have figurative meanings are called metaphorical (A golden cloud spent the night on the chest of a giant cliff, in the morning it rushed off early, playing merrily across the azure ... - L.).

The epithet may be based on a metonymic transfer of the name; such epithets are called metonymic (... The white smell of daffodils, the happy, white spring smell... - L. T.). Metaphorical and metonymic epithets refer to tropes [cardboard love (G.); moth beauty, tearful morning (Ch.); blue mood (Cupr.); wet-lipped wind (Shol.); transparent silence (Paust.)].

Writers with the aim of aesthetically influencing readers through artistic images and expressing their thoughts through symbols, feelings and emotions use a variety of means in their literary works artistic expression– tropes used figuratively to enhance the imagery of language and expressiveness of speech.

Such literary devices include personification, also called personification or prosopopoeia. Often this trope helps to depict nature in lyrics, endowing it with human qualities and properties.

In ancient times, the animation of natural forces among ancient people was a way of understanding and perceiving the world, an attempt to interpret the structure of the world. Most readers perceive poetic works, without thinking about what the technique of personification is used for.

Personification is a literary and linguistic device based on the transfer of human characteristics and attributes to inanimate things and phenomena of the surrounding world.

This literary device is a special case of metaphor; it helps to create unique semantic models that give the work color and figurative expressiveness.

Using this technique, objects in literary works are given:

• gift of speech;
• talent to think;
• the ability to feel;
• ability to worry;
• ability to act.

Even the most ordinary ones conversational phrases may represent elements of ancient tropes, when in a conversation people say that “the sun rises and sets,” “the stream is running,” “the snowstorm is howling,” “the frost is drawing patterns,” and “the leaves are whispering.”

Here are the most obvious examples of the use of personification in live oral speech. The ancient Greeks figuratively depicted happiness in the form of the capricious goddess Fortuna.

The term “personification” has a Latin synonym – “personification” (person + do); among the ancient Greeks it sounds like “prosopopoeia”.

Wikipedia defines personification as a term used in psychology when the qualities of one person are mistakenly attributed to another.

IN ancient greek mythology the relationship of the gods Uranus and Gaia was interpreted as a marriage bond connecting heaven and earth, as a result of which mountains, vegetation, and fauna appeared.

Our ancient ancestors associated Perun with thundering and sparkling natural phenomena; other gods were responsible in mythology for the wind, water, and sun.

It is in mythology that speaking representatives of the animal world initially appear, and things perform actions completely uncharacteristic for them.

Important! In myths on specific example it was much easier to explain and illustrate the essence of things, the motives for the emergence of phenomena and the emergence of humanity.

Many gods, embodied in objects deprived of souls, were endowed with living characters. Moreover, the myths were perceived quite realistically, and the listeners believed that this was really happening.

Often the literary device of personalization is heard in fairy tales, where objects can move independently, animals are able to speak with human voices and think like people. Fairy tales are not intended to explain incomprehensible phenomena; all the characters in them are fictitious.

Appointment in art

The artistic technique is often used in literary works of prose and lyrical genres to solve various problems. Personifications add emotional nuances to the text, drawing the reader’s attention to the content of the work and serving to better perceive it.

In the poem by A.A. Blok there are examples of personification: “nurse silence” in one, in another – “ White dress sang in the beam”, “winter storms cried”, “starry dreams soared”, “strings cried”.

The literary device is also presented in the works of B.L. Pasternak: “the forest... drops sweat in drops,” “July, carrying the fluff of dandelions.”

Note! Literary devices are often used not only in works of art, but also in popular science literature, and also as one of the marketing principles.

A literary device can stimulate the reader’s imagination, giving him the opportunity to experience the content of a work more picturesquely and expressively.

Quite often used in game methods of teaching children.

For example, when studying fables saturated with these tropes, animals are endowed with various human properties, as in the fable by I.A. Krylov "Quartet".

As a result, children perceive the plot of the work more vividly and understand the moral. It is not always possible to determine why personification is used.

Experts note the increasing stages of trope distinction based on their action in a literary work and in conversation:

The conceptual content of tropes can have many nuances.

In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” imagery and expressiveness are achieved through literary devices that personify natural phenomena. Plants and animals are endowed with emotions, the ability to empathize with the author and characters, and they, in turn, turn to the forces of nature for help and receive it.

In Pushkin's "The Tale of dead princess“The prince directly questions the animate forces of nature. In the fables of I.A. Krylov's trope means something different; it is used as an allegory: the wolf personifies cruelty, the monkey - stupidity.

Plyushkin is a symbol of extreme stinginess, Manilov is a symbol of unreasonable daydreaming.

And A.S. Pushkin's means of expression receives social and political meaning.

The subtext of ancient personifications is moralizing and interesting to our contemporaries.

The word "zodiac" is translated from Greek as "animals in a circle", and the twelve zodiac signs symbolize key features human nature.

Such words usually correctly establish the qualities of people, and their use in ordinary conversation makes the speech brighter and more attractive.

The everyday speech of people whom everyone is interested in listening to or reading is also usually full of tropes, but people are so accustomed to hearing them that they do not even perceive these phrases as a literary device.

This began with the use in conversation of quotations from works of literature, which became an inseparable part of speech, turning into everyday expressions. A typical trope is the phrase “the clock is rushing,” but it is no longer perceived as a figurative device.

Impersonation Examples

It is from literary works that new personifications emerge that serve for greater expressiveness, and they are not at all difficult to find.

Personifications in the works of S.A. Yesenin: “the forest rings with gilded coniferous trees,” “the fir trees dream of the hubbub of the mowers,” “the willows hear the whistling of the wind,” “the golden grove dissuaded,” “the bird cherry tree sprinkles snow,” “in the evening the feather grass whispered to the traveler,” “the hemp tree is dreaming.”

In the poem by N.A. Zabolotsky: “the stream, panting, sings,” “the heart does not hear the correct harmonies,” “sad nature lies around, sighing heavily.” These examples show what personification is in literature.

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Let's sum it up

Personification is considered a wonderful tool that, through successful use, allows one to enhance the expressiveness and emotionality of a literary work or everyday speech.

The technique can be used in many cases - from myths and folklore to popular science texts. Many of them have entered our speech so firmly that they are not even felt as means of expression, have become everyday and familiar.

Writers and poets regularly create new, memorable, bright and imaginative personifications, captivating readers picturesque paintings and conveying the mood to them.

Even in ancient times, people endowed surrounding objects and phenomena with human characteristics. For example, the earth was called mother, and rain was compared to tears. Over time, the desire to humanize inanimate objects has disappeared, but in literature and in conversation we still encounter these figures of speech. This figurative means of language is called personification. So what is personification?

Personification: Definition and Functions Personification is a literary device in which inanimate objects are endowed with properties that are inherent in living beings. Sometimes this turn of phrase is called personification.

Personification is used by many prose writers and poets. For example, in Yesenin you can find the following lines: “Winter sings, echoes, the shaggy forest lulls.” It is clear that winter as a season cannot make sounds, and the forest makes noise only because of the wind. Impersonation allows you to create bright image for the reader, to convey the mood of the hero, to emphasize some action.

What personification is in literature is clear, but this turn of phrase is also used in colloquial speech. The familiar phrases “the milk has run away”, “the heart is acting up” are also personifications. Using this literary device in a conversation makes the speech figurative and interesting. However, we don’t even think about using this technique.

You can also give examples of what personification is. For example,... we often say that it is raining (even though the rain clearly has no legs) or the clouds are frowning (it is clear that clouds cannot experience any emotions).

In general, we can say that personification is a literary turn, in other words, a language trope, in which the inanimate is endowed with the signs and qualities of the living. Personification is often confused with metaphor. It is worth understanding that a metaphor is just figurative meaning words, figurative comparison. For example - “golden autumn”. Therefore, it is very easy to distinguish personification from other literary expressions.

And woe, woe, woe! And grief is girded with a bast, and the legs are entangled with washcloths.

A gray-haired sorceress walks, waving her shaggy sleeve; And it pours snow, and scum, and frost, and turns water into ice. Her gaze became numb from the cold breath of Nature.

After all, autumn is already looking at the yard through the spinning wheel. Following her, winter walks in a warm fur coat, powders the path with snow, crunches under the sleigh.

Hyperbole: Midnight whirlwind - the hero is flying! Darkness from his brow, dust whistling from him! Lightning from the gaze runs ahead, Oaks lie in a ridge behind. He steps on the mountains - the mountains crack; Lies on the waters - the abysses boil; If it touches the hail, the hail falls, and throws the towers behind the cloud with its hand.

Personification is a rhetorical figure that allows you to endow inanimate objects with properties, qualities and characteristics of a person. Another name for personification is personification. This literary device is based on the mechanism of projection, which helps to transfer certain human qualities to inanimate objects.

Increasingly, in literature one can find personification when describing nature and its phenomena. For example, in the construction “the wind whispers,” human properties are attributed to a natural phenomenon. In literature, this artistic technique helps to add color and expressiveness to speech.

How to find an avatar?

When analyzing the text, pay special attention to the person to whom certain properties and qualities are attributed. In personification, this object is not a person. It is an animal, a natural phenomenon, a plant, etc. It is this object that is endowed with human qualities, thanks to which the reader can even better imagine the object and its qualities.

What is personification used for?

What are the next challenges?

• Giving the text expressiveness. Personification is used in artistic, scientific literature for a reason. Personification attracts the reader’s attention and helps to better understand the essence of the work.
• Development of imagination. Comparing inanimate objects with a person helps to more colorfully imagine the picture being described and feel the lines read.
• Education. It is much easier for children and adolescents to remember the image and properties of an object if it is endowed with the qualities of a person. For example, in fairy tales and fables there are many personifications, due to which children’s interest in the work and, consequently, their learning ability increases.

Where is impersonation used?

Personification can be found in fairy tales and myths. When describing a real or imagined event, the writer uses personification to give expressiveness to the text. In myths, personification helps to further explain the essence of what is read. That is why in myths there are so many examples of works where human qualities were attributed to oceans, seas, plants and inanimate objects.

Personification is also often found in other fiction. Thus, Tyutchev often used personification to better convey natural phenomena. For example, in his work there is the line “No matter how hot the noon breathes.” Here, humanity attributes a quality to noon, which gives every reason to call this phrase personification.

Personification does not appear very often in scientific literature. In such texts, personification is used as a stable expression.

Examples

Personification occurs in colloquial speech. For example, it is present in all familiar phrases: “it is raining”, “winter has come”, “clouds are running”, “the wind is howling”, “the blizzard is angry”, etc.

In folk poetry, personification occurs in the following lines:

• "The trees tremble joyfully, Bathing in the blue sky"
• "The trees sing, the waters sparkle"
• "The blue sky is laughing"
• “Silent sadness will be comforted”

Personification is powerful. artistic technique, allowing you to give even scientific text brightness and expressiveness. Moderate use of this speech flap helps to better understand the essence of what you read.