Impersonation: know this figure of speech

THE personification it is a figure of speech classified as a figure of thought. It is also known as prosopopeia and occurs when we attribute actions and meanings to irrational beings inherent to being rational.

You may already know that there are verbs that do not conjugate because they are impersonal. This is the case with rain, for example. The verb to rain cannot be attributed to any person and therefore cannot be conjugated. For example, there is no such thing as “I rain”, “you rain”, “it rains”, etc.

Using this question as an example, we cannot say that rain has feeling or does something that is exclusively for rational beings. If you didn't like the fact that it rained the moment you left the house, the rain isn't bad because of that. It is a consequence of many factors that can be explained scientifically.

This example was used to give you a better understanding of how this figure of speech works. We gave the following example, in a previous text: “The dog planned to steal his owner's food”. This one, being an animal that doesn't think, soon doesn't have enough intelligence to plan anything. At best, act on instinct.

In other words, prosopopeia is the act of personifying something inanimate and irrational. The very meaning of the word, of Latin origin, is “masked person”, which represents personal actions behind other beings.

Impersonation: know this figure of speech

See too:Bad or bad.

Impersonation examples

Let's look at the examples below:

• “Cry, heart”;
• “Mother nature is angry”;
• “Life has smiled on me”;
• “Wind, gale, take me to the edges of the sky”;
• "Oh, silver-colored moon, tell me, please, where is that ungrateful one";
• “Right there in the sky, a moon exists, living alone in its sad world. His gaze on the Earth cast, he came looking for love”;
• “The sea, cold and unloved, also got tired of being alone”;
• “Car tires singing in the street”;
• “The horizon line distracts me”;
• "My heart burns for you."

Practically all of the above examples were taken from well-known national songs. Personification, like other figures of speech, is very present in the arts. Whether they are television or movie productions, or in songs. The poetic factor is what counts. As we have already explained, figures of thought are those in which the idea behind what is said is most important.

Let's explain each example. In the first, hearts do not cry, but as this organ is directly associated with emotions, it is common to attribute to it the sadness of a person who is in tears.

In the second example, used by many environmental advocates, it means that the harm we do to the environment is returned to us.

The third example concerns the fact that the wind is constantly moving. The fourth example is a conversation between the lover and the Moon. The fifth and sixth examples emphasize almost a metaphor in which the moon and the sea represent two people in love.

The seventh example is about the noise the tires make on the asphalt. In the eighth example, it would be more correct to say that the person is distracted by looking at the horizon line. In the last example, we can interpret passion and desires as burning flames.

learn more about speech figures by continuing to browse our blog. Doubts? Leave it in the comments.