Zoomorphism: Assigning Animal Traits To Non-animals

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Figurative language is part of what makes literature so enjoyable to write and read. It lets you create complex meaning that is evocative, imaginative, and fun.

One such way to employ figurative language is called zoomorphism. Assigning animal traits to people and objects can lead to interesting results.

What is Zoomorphism?

Zoomorphism is a stylistic device where you characterize anything that isn’t an animal (people, objects, places, and ideas) with animal attributes. This can be seen in literature as either a single-use phrase or an extended metaphor that is used throughout the work.

It is the opposite of anthropomorphism or the assigning of human traits to non-human entities. It comes from the Greek word zōon morphē or “animal form.”

Zoomorphism isn’t exclusively seen in literature. You can also examples of it in art (the Cockerel diadem, Lydia Courteille’s turkey ring), religion (the Egyptian gods depicted as animals or a hybrid), architecture (the Elephantine Colossus, Trojan Horse, and Kindergarten Wolfartsweier), and more.

Examples of Zoomorphism

A lot of examples of zoomorphism can be found in everyday speech and pop culture. Here are just a few:

Everyday Speech

  • barking up the wrong tree
  • champing at the bit
  • ruffled some feathers
  • wolfing down food
  • mad as a hornet
  • the roar of the ocean
  • the howl of the wind
  • busy as a bee
  • night owl
  • snail’s pace
  • puppy love
  • copycat
  • social butterfly
  • ponytail

Comics

Pretty much all comic book superheroes are examples of zoomorphism.

  • Catwoman
  • Superman
  • Hawkeye
  • Black Panther
  • Wolverine
  • Sabertooth

Film

  • In The Matrix, humans are being harvested by machines, comparing them to the animals being raised on modern farms.
  • In Kill Bill Vol. 2, after the Bride is reunited with her daughter, an intertitle states that “The lioness has rejoined her cub and all is right in the jungle.”
  • The Fly has the protagonist slowly become a half-insect, half-human hybrid, going as far as embodying traits commonly found in flies.

Music

  • A lot of bands have zoomorphic names (The Eagles, Gorillaz, The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys, White Snake, Scorpions, Steppenwolf, The Monkees, Pantera, The Animals, Imagine Dragons, Mastodon, Counting Crows)
  • A lot of track titles are also zoomorphic (Barracuda by Heart, (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear by Elvis Presley, She Wolf by Shakira, Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd)

A lot of lyrics also feature zoomorphic elements:

  • Animals by Maroon Five
Baby, I’m preying on you tonight, hunt you down, eat you alive, just like animals.
Maybe you think that you can hide. I can smell your scent for miles, Just like animals.
  • Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
It’s the eye of the tiger. It’s the thrill of the fight
Risin’ up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watchin’ us all with the eye of the tiger.

Zoomorphism in Literature

Though anthropomorphism is much more commonly used, many writers have also inserted zoomorphism into their works. Here are a few examples.

1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare 

“I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream …”

2. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

"All his movements were large and perfectly balanced, like those of a wild animal, and when he appeared in a room like this, he seemed a wild animal held in a cage too small for it."

3. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

“It came as an unmistakable indication to me of how low I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal, that this noisy, frantic unchewing wolfing-down of mine was exactly the way Richard Parker ate.”

4. The Bible

“and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove…” — Luke 3:22
“For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.” — Psalms 63:7

5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

"She has bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin and stands tilted up on her toes with arms slightly extended to her sides, as if ready to take wing at the slightest sound. It’s impossible not to think of a bird."

The Use of Zoomorphism

Like every other writing technique, zoomorphism is used to spice up your work. With it, you can take something that is basic and turn it into something vivid and extraordinary.

Imagine reading a novel that only uses the words “angry” and “happy” compared to one that has “angrier than a wild boar in a stampeded” and “happy as a clam.” The latter two are much more evocative, letting your audience imagine the story more clearly.

It works because we assign a lot of meaning to animals and their actions. Describing someone as wolf-like suggests to your audience how cunning and intelligent they must be as that is how we see wolves.

Using them to portray emotion is also effective and much more graphic, such as comparing someone to a rabid dog. Your audience gets a better sense of the out-of-control rage that that person is feeling.

What’s your favorite example of zoomorphism? Share it in the comments below!

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