Personification or Anthropomorphism

751 views

Very interesting and informative post on personification. Two questions though: if personification is about assigning human traits to inanimate objects and anthropomorphism is to assign human traits to animals and deities, then surely Thomas the Tank Engine should fall under personification rather than anthropomorphism, given that he is an inanimate object – a train – and not an animal or a deity; and Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven should surely be an anthropomorphism and not a personification because the raven is a bird not an inanimate object?

English Tutor Answered question October 1, 2022
0

Exactly. You are correct and at least in terms of definition it seems correct. However, it depends on the writers how they use it.

English Tutor Answered question October 1, 2022