It’s time for an important addition to our literary terms list: The difference between anthropomorphism vs. personification. We’ll discuss the definitions and meaning of each, plus personification and anthropomorphism examples to distinguish them. I’m excited!
As background, my name is Ms. Marshall, and I’ve been an English teacher for nearly twenty years. I’m also an artist, and I hand-illustrate each and every one of the cute drawings on this site to help you remember the language definitions. On to the lesson…
Anthropomorphism vs. Personification
Both anthropomorphism and personification are about giving non-human things human characteristics, but the difference is that anthropomorphism (wow, that’s a hard word to spell!) does it literally, meaning that the non-human thing is actually depicted with human features, speech, and gestures in a way that would be impossible in real life. In the fiction vs. nonfiction quandary, anthropomorphism is always fiction, because it’s imaginative and not truth-based.
Anthropomorphism Examples
Examples of anthropomorphism are all over children’s books and movies, including any animal that acts like a human and talks, or any inanimate object like a clock having a human-like face and being able to communicate and have emotions. (For instance, in my lesson about the misspelling, “fourty,” the numbers are anthropomorphized and are feeling upset.) We’ll examine a bunch more anthropomorphism examples below, since I create them all the time. But first…
Personification Examples
Personification different because it’s a type of figurative language in which a non-human thing is DESCRIBED with human-like characteristics, but doesn’t actually have them in reality. Classic examples of personification are, “The wind howled,” or, “The sky was crying.” This is figurative because the wind doesn’t actually have a human brain or voice to wail like a person, and the sky doesn’t have emotions, but they are being described figuratively in that way so the reader or listener can better imagine them. Now let’s see some anthropomorphism examples to help distinguish them from personification!
Anthropomorphism vs. Personification
When something is anthropomorphized, it means that a non-human thing is given literal human characteristics -- not just described figuratively as having them, which would be personification. Here are some anthropomorphism examples, with explanations for why they're distinct from personification.
Anthropomorphized Things Usually Talk
If an animal starts talking in whole sentences like a person, you know that's an example of anthropomorphism, not personification. With personification, real-life sounds are interpreted figuratively as communication, but aren't really, like: "The wind is howling." In contrast, this anthropomorphized octopus is giving you a whole proposal about Valentine's Day!
Anthropomorphized Things Have Personality
Non-human things that are anthropomorphized usually have distinct, human-like personalities. For example, this anthropomorphized snake is sassy!
Anthropomorphized Things Often Have Friends
When there is one anthropomorphized thing, there are usually several -- and they often talk to each other. In this example, two different numbers are both given human-like characteristics, and are having a conversation. (Yes, anthropomorphism is always fictional, because non-human things don't actually converse about spelling concepts.)
Symbolic Anthropomorphism
In "symbolic anthropomorphism," a non-human thing is given a fully human form distinct from its usual form, but with characteristics of the original thing. For example, Greek deities were anthropomorphized concepts representing ideas like "love" and "war." In this example, I have anthropomorphized a color called viridian green, illustrating it in the form of a fashionable woman who is wearing the color from head to toe.
Anthropomorphizing Adds Human Emotions
You can tell if something is anthropomorphized because human emotions are given to a non-human thing that wouldn't ever have them in reality. For example, this sheep is worried that she is too fluffy! In contrast, a statement like "The sky was crying" to describe rain would be personification, because it's using figurative language to help depict something. The sky doesn't really have emotions, but the personified view of it portrays it as sad, though that's not literally true.
Anthropomorphizing Means Human Gestures, Too
A non-human thing can be anthropomorphized even if it doesn't talk, if it exhibits human-like gestures that the real thing would never do. For instance, this reindeer is waving hello in a manner that is distinctly not animal-like!
Anthropomorphized Objects Have Faces Added
Another way to tell if something is anthropomorphized is if it has a human-like face added in that isn't there for such types of objects in reality. For example, real mushrooms don't have cute cartoon eyes and a shy smile like my anthropomorphized illustration below...
Anthropomorphizing Food
Though anthropomorphizing animals is very popular, anthropomorphizing food is a mighty adorable thing to do, too. As you may have seen from my big round-up of cute food drawings, it's one of my favorite artistic pastimes.
Symbolic Anthropomorphism for a Rainbow
What would a rainbow look like, anthropomorphized as a person? That makes a good drawing prompt. Here's my attempt...
Anthropomorphizing Plants
I find plants such as cacti, flowers, and trees delightful to anthropomorphize. In this example, the cactus is giving us an English language lesson!
Anthropomorphized Clothing
Finally, I've gotten into anthropomorphized hat drawing lately! Ah... so many fun non-human things to give human characteristics to. Which do you enjoy most? What should I do next?
Word Origins
Where does the term “anthropomorphism” come from? Its etymology is from the Greek, “anthropos” which means “human,” and “morphe” which means form. Put together, it logically produces: “Human form,” which matches with the definition of giving a non-human thing human characteristics, literally.
Personification vs. Anthropomorphism Examples, in Sum
I hope these anthropomorphism examples have helped you distinguish the difference between the commonly confused words, anthropomorphism vs. personification. What would you like me to illustrate and explain next? Do share!
The author and artist, Lillie Marshall, is a National Board Certified Teacher of English who has been a public school educator since 2003, and an experienced Reiki practitioner since 2018. All art on this site is original and hand-drawn by Lillie. She launched DrawingsOf.com Educational Cartoons in 2020, building upon the success of her other sites, AroundTheWorldL.com (established 2009), TeachingTraveling.com (founded 2010), and ReikiColors.com. Subscribe to Lillie’s monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media to stay connected!
