pathetic fallacy
Say it: puh-THET-ik FAL-uh-see /pəˌθɛtɪk ˈfæləsi/ · noun phrase
What “pathetic fallacy” means
Giving nature human feelings, often matching a character's mood.
More precisely: Giving human feelings to nature, such as weather that matches a character's mood.
When to use it
When discussing descriptions or scenes where weather and nature seem to share a character's happiness, grief or anger.
Similar words
personification, anthropomorphism
Where it comes from
Coined by the critic John Ruskin in Modern Painters (1856).
Quick check
A grieving character calls the clouds sorrowful and imagines the rain weeping with her. Which literary device is this?
dramatic irony or pathetic fallacy?
Show the answer
pathetic fallacy
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