Personification is when human characteristics/attributes are given to inanimate objects for the purpose of helping readers gain a clear understanding of what the writer is attempting to communicate. Personification gives readers a basis of comparison. Because everyone is human, personification is almost guaranteed to paint a clearer picture of something for which otherwise readers may have no experience. Thus, when the author writes “I hear America singing,” the connection is being made between what otherwise may not be known to that of singing—something about which everybody knows.
