Zoomorphism
Zoomorphism is the opposite situation to personification – which is the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form for example ‘the flowers danced’. In zoomorphism we attribute animal qualities, characteristics or behaviours to humans.
‘She bared her fangs and leapt at him.’ Assuming ‘she’ is a human, this is zoomorphism. Humans do not have fangs, and ‘baring your fangs’ as a show of aggression is definitely an animal behaviour.
Here are some more examples:

Literary Examples
“His heart was a caged bird, fluttering against his ribs.”
“She prowled through the crowd, eyes sharp like a hawk.
“The wind howled like a wolf through the trees.”

Common Idioms
“Barking up the wrong tree.”
“Champing at the bit.”
“Ruffled some feathers.”

Zoomorphism is figurative language that characterises people, objects, places, and ideas with animal attributes. It is the opposite of anthropomorphism, the literary device that uses human qualities to describe non-human objects. .

Zoomorphism means to assign animal qualities to a non-animal subject, like a human being, inanimate object, or idea. This literary device can appear in books as a single phrase or line (for example, “the ocean roared”) or an extended metaphor throughout a novel or poem.
The attribution of animal characteristics to inanimate objects is not exclusive to literature. Zoomorphism appears in art, architecture, and religious iconography, objects, and texts, especially in Hinduism and ancient Egyptian religions.

Zoomorphism vs. Anthropomorphism

While zoomorphism means to ascribe animal behavior and characteristics to an object or non-animal being, anthropomorphism assigns human behavior and characteristics to a non-human animal or object. Like zoomorphism, anthropomorphism can be a single phrase or an extended metaphor, like the talking animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The key difference lies in which traits are being assigned and to whom.

Zoomorphism is when non-animal entities (like humans, objects, or abstract concepts) are given animal traits.

Anthropomorphism is when non-human entities (like animals, objects, or deities) are given human traits.
“The wise old owl pondered the meaning of life.”*
Anthropomorphism is often used to make characters relatable, especially in storytelling.

Think of it this way:
Zoomorphism makes something more animal-like.
Anthropomorphism makes something more human-like.

The word “zoomorphism” comes from ancient Greek words meaning “animal form” or “animal morph,” while “anthropomorphism” means “human form” or “human morph.”

Other literary terms and devices related to zoomorphism include personification (the attribution of human characteristics to abstract ideas, natural phenomena, or inanimate objects in a figurative manner), therianthropy (the ability to shape-shift into inhuman creatures), and chremamorphism (assigning object qualities to human subjects).

Writers utilize this technique in order to speak more clearly and interestingly about a human . But, it can also say something about their perception of the animal. If a human being is compared to a rabid dog, then a reader will already have some idea of the raging, out of control nature of this person. Alternatively, if a human said to have dove-like features then a reader should assume they are beautiful, peace-loving, and perhaps a pacificist.

Let’s look at some poems

The Skunk Semus Heaney

Up, black, striped and demasked like the chasuble
At a funeral mass, the skunk’s tail
Paraded the skunk. Night after night
I expected her like a visitor.

The refrigerator whinnied into silence.
My desk light softened beyond the verandah.
Small oranges loomed in the orange tree.
I began to be tense as a voyeur.

After eleven years i was composing
Love-letters again, broaching the ‘wife’
Like a stored cask, as if its slender vowel
Had mutated into the night earth and air

Of California. The beautiful, useless
Tang of eucalyptus spelt your absence.
The aftermath of a mouthful of wine
Was like inhaling you off a cold pillow.

And there she was, the intent and glamorous,
Ordinary, mysterious skunk,
Mythologized, demythologized,
Snuffing the boards five feet beyond me.

It all came back to me last night, stirred
By the sootfall of your things at bedtime,
Your head-down, tail-up hunt in a bottom drawer
For the black plunge-line nightdress.

In this poem, he compares his wife to a single, mysterious, and yet ordinary, skunk that passes by his veranda.
It’s in the second half of the poem that Heaney’s speaker clearly describes how he sees his wife as the skunk. She is just as mysterious and elusive, yet at the same time ordinary and demystified. By the end of the poem, it appears that the speaker and his wife are starting to come back together again, or at least in his mind. He can recall what it is like to hear and see her near him, as she moves around the room. She is moving as a skunk would move but doing the things his wife would.

Here are some other notable poems and literary works that effectively use zoomorphism:

• Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”: This poem is a prime example, where the goblin merchants are described with various animal features, such as “One had a cat’s face, One whisk’d a tail, One tramp’d at a rat’s pace, One crawl’d like a snail.” This use of zoomorphism highlights their deceptive and predatory nature.
• Emily Dickinson’s “Fame is a bee”: In this short poem, Dickinson uses zoomorphism to describe “Fame” as a bee, noting it “has a song— / It has a sting— / Ah, too, it has a wing.” This comparison gives an abstract concept tangible, animalistic qualities.
• Carl Sandburg’s “Fog”: This short poem famously uses zoomorphism to describe the fog: “The fog comes / on little cat feet.” This creates a vivid image of the fog’s quiet and stealthy arrival.
• Aliyah Begum’s “Walking to the Train Station”: This contemporary poem uses various bird species to explore the impact of humans on the environment, evoking bird-like qualities in human actions and observations.
• Christina Rossetti’s “Cousin Kate”: Rossetti uses animal metaphors to convey the speaker’s feelings of injustice, such as stating she “might have been a dove” or “I sit and howl in dust.”
  Zoomorphism adds vivid imagery and deeper meaning to poetry, allowing poets to convey complex ideas and emotions by drawing on the inherent associations we have with different animals.