Module 5: How do I love thee?

Since personification involves ascribing human characteristics to that which is inanimate, then using the skills of “body thinking” as well as “empathizing” could be great ways to help students master the concept of personification.

Below is an example of how students can experience personification with their bodies by imitating the actions and emotions of the inanimate objects found in each poem (such as the sun and the train) through the use of body movements and facial expressions.

The Sun Just Had a Nasty Day
The sun just had a nasty day,
refused to smile or shine.
It stayed behind the dark gray clouds,
a mottled, grim design.
But shortly after dinner time
one ray poked though the gray,
a spark of golden yellow warmth
reminding us of day.

If you want to please us, Sun,
(don't take this as a warning)
if you're going to pierce the clouds,
please do it in the morning.

by Denise Rodgers
Copyright© Denise Rodgers
A Little Bit of Nonsense
All Rights Reserved
Art by Julie Martin

"The sun just had a nasty day"

"a spark of golden yellow warmth"

The Train

I like to see it lap the miles,
And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks;
And then, prodigious, step

Around a pile of mountains,
And, supercilious, peer
In shanties by the sides of roads;
And then a quarry pare

To fit its sides, and crawl between, Complaining all the while
In horrid, hooting stanza;
Then chase itself down hill

And neigh like Boanerges;
Then, punctual as a start its own,
Stop-docile and omnipotent-
A stable door.

By Emily Dickinson

supercilious

 

 

 

 

 

 

powerful