The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Personification \Per*son`i*fi*ca"tion\, n. [Cf. F.
   personnification.]
   1. The act of personifying; impersonation; embodiment. --C.
      Knight.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Rhet.) A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or
      abstract idea is represented as animated, or endowed with
      personality; prosopop[oe]ia; as, the floods clap their
      hands. "Confusion heards his voice." --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

personification
    n 1: a person who represents an abstract quality; "she is the
         personification of optimism"
    2: representing an abstract quality or idea as a person or
       creature [syn: personification, prosopopoeia]
    3: the act of attributing human characteristics to abstract
       ideas etc. [syn: personification, incarnation]