The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 394–395 · Part 2: Part Second
109. Personification
Goal: Your child recognizes when a thing or quality is spoken of as a person and says the thought in plain words.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)
What's in the book
Section 394 explains personification, speaking of an animal, a thing or a quality as if it were a person, with twelve examples from proverbs and poems (Pride, Poverty, Reason, Freedom, the Frost, Old Ocean, the weary Day). Section 395 asks for more examples from earlier lessons or the reader.
The lesson, step by step
Read the explanation
Read Section 394 together. The moon in "Lady Moon" and the animals in fables are examples.
The Frost looked forth one clear cold night.
Ask: Can frost really look? What is the poet doing?
Find the persons
Read the twelve examples. Your child names the thing that is made into a person and notices its capital letter.
Plain words
For five of them, your child says the thought in plain words. "Laziness travels so slowly that Poverty soon overtakes him" means a lazy person soon becomes poor.
Look back (Section 395)
Find personification in earlier lessons: "Daffydowndilly", "The Tree", the trees in "Hiawatha's Sailing". Your child copies two examples.
Write your own
Your child writes three sentences that personify something (the wind, Winter, a clock).
Check it gently
Does each sentence give the thing a person's action or feeling? Is the personified name capitalized, as the book does? Fix one.
What a good result looks like
Example (written for this guide, not from the book):
The Wind whistled down the chimney, looking for a way in.
Old Winter wrapped the hills in his white cloak.
The clock on the mantel ticked impatiently, waiting for supper.
Answers to the book's problems
Section 394, the things personified: 1. Bee. 2. Laziness, Poverty. 3. Pride, Plenty, Poverty, Infamy. 4. Reason. 5. Freedom. 6. Solitude. 7. Frost. 8. Hospitality. 9. Ocean. 10. Moon. 11. Day. 12. Ambition, Grandeur. Plain meanings, for example: 2. A lazy person soon becomes poor. 3. A proud person who is rich in the morning may be poor by noon and disgraced by night. 4. If you will not listen to sense, you will be punished by what happens. 7. Frost formed in the night. 11. The day ended. 12. Ambitious and grand people should not scorn the work and simple lives of the poor.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.