prosopopoeia

1. (rhetoric) An act of personifying a person or object when communicating to an audience; a figure of speech involving this.Examples: "Of the prosopopœia or personification, there are two kinds: one when action and character are attributed to fictitious, irrational, or even inanimate objects; the others, when a probable but fictitious speech is assigned to a real character."; "Prosopopœia a new person feigns, And to inanimates speech and actions deigns."; "Hence the frequency and beauty of the prosopopoeia in poetry, where trees, mountains, and streams are personified, and the inanimate parts of nature acquire sentiment and passion."countablerhetoricuncountable