Personification or
presopopeia is a form of metaphor where an
inanimate object or abstract concept is spoken of as if it has human qualities,
or feelings, or attributes. For example, the way Time has been spoken of in
Shakespeare’s sonnet Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds. Time has
been spoken of as a reaper that reaps the crop of youth and beauty.
So, the point to
remember is that, in personification some human quality or attribute is
ascribed to a thing or a concept.
Anthropomorphism,
on the other hand, is that figurative device where the author attributes entire
human behaviour to non-humans or inanimate things. So personification talks about attributing
human qualities to non-human or inanimate things, but anthropomorphism deals
with these things as if they were humans. For example, all the fables of The
Panchatantra are examples of anthropomorphism. Remember our text Animal Farm
from first year. That is a very good example of anthropomorphism where pigs,
horses, dogs, donkeys behave as if they were humans. So, not just one or two
human qualities, but they are attributed with entire human behaviour. And that
is anthropomorphism.
