Pathetic fallacy

The phrase pathetic fallacy is a literary term for the attribution of human emotion and conduct to things found in nature that are not human. It is a kind of personification that occurs in poetic descriptions, when, for example, clouds seem sullen, when leaves dance, or when rocks seem indifferent. The English cultural critic John Ruskin coined the term in the third volume of his work Modern Painters (1856).^[2]^[3]^[4]

^ [1] Grieve, Alastair. "Ruskin and Millais at Glenfinlas", The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 138, No. 1117, pp. 228–234, April 1996. (Accessed via JSTOR, UK.)
^ The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy Second Edition (2005). Thomas Mautner, Editor. p. 455.
^ Abrams, M.H.; Harpham, G.G. (2011) [1971]. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. p. 269. ISBN 9780495898023. LCCN 2010941195.
^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition (1988), volume 9, p. 197.

[1] [1] Grieve, Alastair. "Ruskin and Millais at Glenfinlas", The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 138, No. 1117, pp. 228–234, April 1996. (Accessed via JSTOR, UK.)

[2] The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy Second Edition (2005). Thomas Mautner, Editor. p. 455.

[Abrams2011-3] Abrams, M.H.; Harpham, G.G. (2011) [1971]. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. p. 269. ISBN 9780495898023. LCCN 2010941195.

[4] The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition (1988), volume 9, p. 197.

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