Pathetic Fallacy
About Pathetic Fallacy
The pathetic fallacy is the attribution of human feelings (especially pathos) to nature and inanimate objects, such as "the cruel sea", "stubborn stones" or the poet William Cowper's lines "The fruitful field / Laughs with abundance".
The term 'pathetic fallacy' was first coined by the 19th century artist and writer John Ruskin, who regarded it as a failing. He thought art and literature ought to reflect truth about the natural world, not fanciful imaginings about it. However, his disapproval has not been shared by critics since, and personification is often seen as ...
The pathetic fallacy is the attribution of human feelings (especially pathos) to nature and inanimate objects, such as "the cruel sea", "stubborn stones" or the poet William Cowper's lines "The fruitful field / Laughs with abundance".
The term 'pathetic fallacy' was first coined by the 19th century artist and writer John Ruskin, who regarded it as a failing. He thought art and literature ought to reflect truth about the natural world, not fanciful imaginings about it. However, his disapproval has not been shared by critics since, and personification is often seen as an important way of understanding and describing the non-human world.