What figure of speech is used in the line 'The thunder slapped the sky'?

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What figure of speech is used in the line 'The thunder slapped the sky'?

Giving human actions to something non-human is the idea here. The line has thunder performing a verb that a person would do—slap—so the wind, lightning, and storm are portrayed with human-like agency. That kind of attribution is what makes it personification, and it helps the scene feel vivid and animated. It’s not alliteration, since the nearby words don’t repeat the same initial consonant sounds. It’s not a straightforward simile, because there’s no like or as used to draw a comparison. It isn’t about exaggeration in a way that would define hyperbole; the image hinges on assigning human action to nature, which is the essence of personification.

Giving human actions to something non-human is the idea here. The line has thunder performing a verb that a person would do—slap—so the wind, lightning, and storm are portrayed with human-like agency. That kind of attribution is what makes it personification, and it helps the scene feel vivid and animated.

It’s not alliteration, since the nearby words don’t repeat the same initial consonant sounds. It’s not a straightforward simile, because there’s no like or as used to draw a comparison. It isn’t about exaggeration in a way that would define hyperbole; the image hinges on assigning human action to nature, which is the essence of personification.

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