What literary device involves giving human traits to non-human objects?

The correct answer is personification, which is a literary device that involves attributing human characteristics, emotions, or behaviors to non-human entities, such as animals, inanimate objects, or abstract concepts. This technique allows writers to create vivid imagery and connect readers emotionally with elements that are typically not associated with human qualities.

For example, in a sentence like "The wind whispered through the trees," the wind is given the human action of whispering, which helps convey a sense of atmosphere and evokes feelings in the reader. Personification enriches narratives by making them more relatable and engaging, allowing readers to understand complex ideas through familiar human experiences.

Other options present different literary devices: metaphor involves a direct comparison between two unlike things, simile uses "like" or "as" for comparison, and alliteration refers to the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Each of these has its own unique function in writing, but they do not serve to humanize non-human elements like personification does.