ANTHROPOMORPHISM (Figures of Speech)
Sometimes a writer will give non-human things the characteristics of humans. Thus animals, plants, natural forces like seasons and weather, even rocks may be said to speak, think human thoughts, or behave in ways uniquely human. This technique is called anthropomorphism. When Aesop's animals talk, they're anthropomorphic. When "the sea is angry" or "the thunder is grumbling" or "a volcano assaults a village"--there it is again. Everyday people, too, anthropomorphize things. We wonder why the copy machine that broke down "hates" us, or we talk about "keeping our car happy," or we speak of being in "the hands of God."
- Anthropos- means "human"; morphe is "form."
- Personification has the same meaning anthropomorphism.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
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