Is this personification?
“The silence prolonged itself”
3 answers
Probably, yes. I'd need to see the whole context to be sure.
Here is the whole passage. It's from the book Brave New Wprld by Aldous Huxley.
“He looked at her in silence, his face unresponsive and very grave—looked at her intently. After a few seconds Lenina’s eyes flinched away; she uttered a nervous little laugh, tried to think of something to say and couldn’t. The silence prolonged itself.”
“He looked at her in silence, his face unresponsive and very grave—looked at her intently. After a few seconds Lenina’s eyes flinched away; she uttered a nervous little laugh, tried to think of something to say and couldn’t. The silence prolonged itself.”
I guess so, since inanimate objects/ideas (such as silence) don't have selves! Also since "prolong" is a verb usually used with people as subjects.