* pathetic fallacy: Using a word that refers to a human action on something non-human

An illustration of the literary use of the pathetic fallacy, from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Christabel ( poem ) | Christabel.

In the discussion of literature, the pathetic fallacy is similar to personification.

Yet Ruskin did not disapprove of Kingsley ’ s use of the pathetic fallacy:

Although Fowler retains a mention of human emotion, an essential aspect in Ruskin, “ ordinary modern use pathos and pathetic are limited to the idea of painful emotion ; but in this phrase, now common though little recognized in dictionaries, the original wider sense of emotion in general is reverted to, and ... fallacy means the tendency to credit nature with human emotions .”

In 1971, M. H. Abrams, in A Glossary of Literary Terms, notes that the term has undergone a relative diminishment of form and defines pathetic fallacy as “ a common phenomenon in descriptive poetry, in which the ascription of human traits to inanimate nature is less formally managed than in the figure called personification .”

“ The pathos has largely gone out of the pathetic fallacy ,” says Jeffrey M. Hurwit, writing in The Classical Journal in 1982: “ Today it is generally regarded simply as a variety of personification ...

The pathetic fallacy is widely held to operate when there is any projection of human traits into nature or its animate or inanimate parts ... whatever the stimulus — passion, ‘ contemplative fancy ,’ or cold-blooded convention .”

In the narrow sense intended by Ruskin, only a faithful representation of experience, as it genuinely appears to the senses, escapes the pathetic fallacy.

Indeed, to reject the use of the pathetic fallacy would mean dismissing most Romantic poetry and many of Shakespeare's most memorable images.

This stanza from Alfred Lord Tennyson ’ s 1855 poem “ Maud ”, is an example of what Ruskin saw as the fashion of contemporary poets to over-use pathetic fallacy:

In science, pathetic fallacy occurs as a term peculiar to that field.

Informally, however, scientists may still take advantage of the pathetic fallacy for quick and convenient metaphoric explanations of complex scientific concepts in a readily understood way.

The poet also notes the “‘ heavy change ’ suffered by nature now that Lycidas is gone — a ‘ pathetic fallacy ’ in which the willows, hazel groves, woods, and caves lament Lycidas ’ s death .” In the following section of the poem, “ The shepherd-poet reflects … that thoughts of how Lycidas might have been saved are futile … turning from lamenting Lycidas ’ s death to lamenting the futility of all human labor .” The next section is followed by that of the voice of Phoebus, “ the sun-god, an image drawn out of the mythology of classical Roman poetry, replies that fame is not mortal but eternal, witnessed by Jove ( God ) himself on judgment day .” At the end of the poem, King / Lycidas appears as a resurrected figure, being delivered by the waters that lead to his death: “ Burnished by the sun's rays at dawn, King resplendently ascends heavenward to his eternal reward .”

This is also known as the pathetic fallacy, ' a term coined by John Ruskin ... for the practice of attributing human emotions to the inanimate or unintelligent world ' - as in ' the sentimental poetic trope of the " pathetic fallacy ", beloved of Theocritus, Virgil and their successors ' in the pastoral tradition.

In line with late 18th-century sensibility and its parallel fetishisation of the sublime and the sentimentally pastoral, the heightened emotional states of Radcliffe's characters are often reflected through the pathetic fallacy.

At the heart of Seth's analysis was a defense of the necessity of anthropomorphism, John Ruskin's " pathetic fallacy.

But a modern Oedipus who is doomed because he cannot oppose his own childhood is only pathetic, and for renouncing the mystery in favor of psychological truth he gives up the claim on our sympathies.

The pathetic evidence is no longer before us ; ;

The wife's attempt at control, these psychologists contend, is sometimes merely a pathetic effort to compel her husband to pay as much attention to her as he does to his job.

While conceding he is sometimes good, the authors claim Burton's " occasional triumphs only serve to highlight the pathetic waste in most of his films ; for every Equus in which he appears there are at least a half-dozen Cleopatras or Boom! s.

By the end of the series he is a pathetic figure, reduced to stealing his son's blood to preserve his immortality.

Sam Levene is affectingly gentle in his brief bit as the Jewish victim, and Gloria Grahame is believably brazen and pathetic as a girl of the streets.

Kev is cast as kind of a pathetic little guy.

Since many of the motet texts of the 1589 and 1591 sets are pathetic in tone, it is not surprising that many of them continue and develop the ' affective-imitative ' vein found in some motets from the 1570s, though in a more concise and concentrated form.

' The tale is moral and pathetic, but the truth of it may very fairly be called in question.

Critic Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times, liked the screenplay, the message of the film, and John Ford's direction, and wrote, " John Ford has truly fashioned a modern Odyssey — a stark and tough-fibered motion picture which tells with lean economy the never-ending story of man's wanderings over the waters of the world in search of peace for his soul ... it is harsh and relentless and only briefly compassionate in its revelation of man's pathetic shortcomings.

What they especially praise is the ethos or permanent moral level of his works as compared with those of the later so called " pathetic " school.

Darnley is portrayed as a snivelling, pathetic character who marries Mary as part of a plot by Elizabeth I ( Glenda Jackson ) to weaken Mary's claim to the English throne.

" He goes on to say that " his downfall, while pathetic, is not entirely undeserved.

However, when Fry reads Hermes ' mind in " Into the Wild Green Yonder ", it is revealed that Hermes sees him as " pathetic but lovable ".

A pathetic letter is still in existence, in which Kendall tells McCrae that he could not go to Gordon's funeral because he was penniless.

Hagan, who is a member of the Presbyterian Church and a former Sunday school teacher, condemned the ad as " fabricated and pathetic ," and, according to Hagan's campaign website, a cease-and-desist letter was " hand-delivered to Dole's Raleigh office and to her home at the Watergate in Washington, DC.

The word ' pathetic ' in this use is related to ' pathos ' or ' empathy ' ( capability of feeling ), and is not pejorative.

Over the next ten days, the pathetic line of emaciated men inched its way from Mariveles back up the peninsula-the famous death march. Enroute to the concentration camps in Tarlac, 7, 000 to 10, 000 men ( more than were killd in previous fighting ) died from disease and brutal treatment.

* The A64 ( M ) portion of Leeds Inner Ring Road is classified as a " pathetic motorway " by one SABRE member because it is " sadly, only 800 yards long and that's if you go the long way.

Then if she still declines to come we slap the writs on her before she reaches CW as we don ’ t want to be seen publically being brutal to such a pathetic victim from a concentration camp .”

... a closer look cyberpunk authors reveals that they nearly always portray future societies in which governments have become wimpy and pathetic ... Popular science fiction tales by Gibson, Williams, Cadigan and others do depict Orwellian accumulations of power in the next century, but nearly always clutched in the secretive hands of a wealthy or corporate elite.

However, after making him " pathetic ", they could not regard him as a business owner any longer, and it was explained seasons later in " And Maggie Makes Three " that his Uncle Al owns the alley and named it after him.

This sketch spawned perhaps the show's most popular catchphrase "... That's you, that is ", spoken after they had described someone / something supposedly pathetic and / or disgusting.

For example, words to use against opponents include decay, failure ( fail ), collapse ( ing ), deeper, crisis, urgent ( cy ), destructive, destroy, sick, pathetic, lie, liberal, they / them, unionized bureaucracy, " compassion " is not enough, betray, consequences, limit ( s ), shallow, traitors, sensationalists ; words to use in defining a candidate's own campaign and vision included share, change, opportunity, legacy, challenge, control, truth, moral, courage, reform, prosperity, crusade, movement, children, family, debate, compete, active ( ly ), we / us / our, candid ( ly ), humane, pristine, provide.

The two are extremely incompetent to the point where they struggle with even simple tasks, and are highly gullible, easily being tricked by Sonic no matter how bizarre, obvious, or pathetic his disguises are.

When they failed to meet this or the revised 12 June deadline, Transport for London issued a harshly worded press release quoting London Underground Managing Director Tim O ' Toole as saying " This is a further, and one hopes final, pathetic delay on a project that Metronet has failed to manage to time.

Ivanov argued that, unlike in the past, modern yurodivy are generally aware that they look pathetic in others ’ eyes.

Roger states that it doesn't matter since he will always be cool, popular and good-looking and the Lambdas will always be weird, different and pathetic, and that there's nothing they can do or say about it.

A different review notes that " Tod A. is the Andrew Vachss of underground rock, telling stories of pathetic losers and maniac outsiders who believe they are the sane ones ", while Black and Sprague note that Release finds Cop Shoot Cop " sneaking surreptitiously toward the mainstream.

She claimed that Zion's progress was pathetic and they had to step up their efforts.

Suffering and joy belong to the essence of life, they are the two fundamental affective tonalities of its manifestation and of its " pathetic " self-revelation ( from the French word pathétique which means capable of feeling something like suffering or joy ).

He was often portrayed as a pathetic alcoholic, although he also had a recurring James Bond-like tech review segment ( as " Agent Triple O ") and had his own Shaft-like theme song about his prowess with the ladies (" Ladies love the man, but they just don't understand, he's Brendan Moran ...") His Chicago-esque " sooooo "' s and his perpetual gum-chewing were often affectionately imitated by the show's other hosts, but he was apparently not amused.

His lyrics on " Ego Trippin '" also criticize the musical aesthetic of old school hip hop artists at the time: " They use the simple back and forth, the same old rhythm / That a baby can pick up and join right with them / But their rhymes are pathetic, they think they copasetic / Using nursery terms, at least not poetic ".

In the course of tracking down the Pudding Thieves they encounter some rather pathetic and unsavoury members of society, but eventually manage to get led to the Pudding Thieves ' lair.

It is sad that they do not know the charm of truth, that mist, smoke, and berserk immoderation are so dear to them, pathetic that they ingenuously submit to any mad scoundrel who appeals to their lowest instincts, who confirms them in their vices and teaches them to conceive nationalism as isolation and brutality.