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Pathetic fallacy

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The phrase pathetic fallacy is a literary term for the attributing of human emotion and conduct to all aspects within nature.[1] It is a kind of personification that is found in poetic writing when, for example, clouds seem sullen, when leaves dance, when dogs laugh, or when rocks seem indifferent.[1][2][3][4][5]

The British cultural critic, John Ruskin, coined the term in his book, Modern Painters (1843–60).[6]

History of the phrase

John Ruskin at Glenfinlas, Scotland (1853–54), by John Everett Millais.[7]

Ruskin coined the term pathetic fallacy to attack the sentimentality that was common to the poetry of the late 18th century, and which use continued among his contemporaries. That fashion was waning just as John Ruskin addressed the matter; nonetheless, as a critic, Ruskin proved influential, and is credited with having helped to refine poetic expression.[5]

The meaning of the term has changed significantly from the idea Ruskin had in mind.[8] Ruskin’s original definition is “emotional falseness”, or the falseness that occurs to one’s perceptions when influenced by violent or heightened emotion. For example, when a person is unhinged by grief, the clouds might seem darker than they are, or perhaps mournful or perhaps even uncaring.[2][9]

There have been other changes to Ruskin’s phrase since he coined it: The particular definition that Ruskin used for the word “fallacy” has since become obsolete. The word “fallacy” nowadays is defined as an example of a flawed logic, but for Ruskin and writers of the 19th century and earlier, “fallacy” could be used to mean simply a “falseness”.[10]

In the same way, the word “pathetic” simply meant for Ruskin “emotional” or “pertaining to emotion”.[11]

Setting aside Ruskin’s original intentions, and despite this linguistic rocky road, the two-word phrase has survived, though with a significantly altered meaning.

Examples of Ruskin's original meaning

A yellow Crocus angustifolius known as Cloth-of-gold crocus. (Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 1803)

In his essay, Ruskin demonstrates his original meaning by offering lines of a poem:

They rowed her in across the rolling foam—
The cruel, crawling foam…

Ruskin then points out that "the foam is not cruel, neither does it crawl. The state of mind which attributes to it these characters of a living creature is one in which the reason is unhinged by grief"—yet, Ruskin did not disapprove of this use of the pathetic fallacy:

Now, so long as we see that the feeling is true, we pardon, or are even pleased by, the confessed fallacy of sight, which it induces: we are pleased, for instance, with those lines ... above quoted, not because they fallaciously describe foam, but because they faithfully describe sorrow.[12]

Ruskin intended that pathetic fallacy may also refer to any “untrue” quality: as in the description of a crocus as "gold", when the flower is, according to Ruskin, saffron in color.[2]

The following, a stanza from the poem "Maud" (1855) by Alfred Lord Tennyson, demonstrates what John Ruskin, in Modern Painters, said was an "exquisite" instance of the use of the pathetic fallacy:[12]

MAUD

There has fallen a splendid tear
  From the passion-flower at the gate.
She is coming, my dove, my dear;
  She is coming, my life, my fate.
The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;"
  And the white rose weeps, "She is late;"
The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear;"
  And the lily whispers, "I wait." (Part 1, XXII, 10)

Science

In science, the term “pathetic fallacy” is used in a pejorative way in order to discourage the kind of figurative speech in descriptions that might not be strictly accurate and clear, and that might communicate a false impression of a natural phenomenon. An example is the metaphorical phrase "Nature abhors a vacuum", which contains the suggestion that nature is capable of abhorring something, however there is no scientific evidence to support this. There are more accurate and scientific ways to describe nature and vacuums.

Another example of a pathetic fallacy is the expression, “Air hates to be crowded, and, when compressed, it will try to escape to an area of lower pressure.” It is not accurate to suggest that air “hates” anything or “tries” to do anything. One way to express the ideas that underlie that phrase in a more scientific manner can be found and described in the kinetic theory of gases: effusion or movement towards lower pressure occurs because unobstructed gas molecules will become more evenly distributed between high- and low-pressure zones, by a flow from the former to the latter.[13][14][15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b pathetic fallacy (figure of speech) - Encyclopedia Britannica
  2. ^ a b c Ruskin, John (1856). "Of the Pathetic Fallacy". Modern Painters,. Vol. volume iii. pt. 4. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy Second Edition (2005). Thomas Mautner, Editor. p. 455.
  4. ^ Abrams, M.H.; Harpham, G.G. (2011) [1971]. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. p. 269. ISBN 9780495898023. LCCN 2010941195.
  5. ^ a b Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, Alex Preminger, Ed., Princeton University Press, 1974 ISBN 0-691-01317-9
  6. ^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition (1988), volume 9, p. 197.
  7. ^ Ruskin and Millais at Glenfinlas, The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 138, No. 1117, pp. 228–234, April 1996. (Accessed via JSTOR, UK.)
  8. ^ Fowler, H.W. (1994) [1926]. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Wordsworth Collection. Wordsworth Editions. p. 425. ISBN 9781853263187.
  9. ^ Hurwit, Jeffrey M. (1982). "Palm Trees and the Pathetic Fallacy in Archaic Greek Poetry and Art". The Classical Journal. 77 (3). The Classical Association of the Middle West and South: 193–199. JSTOR 3296969.
  10. ^ “Fallacy”. The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 1st ed. 1909.
  11. ^ “Pathetic”. The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 1st ed. 1909.
  12. ^ a b Ruskin, J., "Of the Pathetic Fallacy", Modern Painters vol. III part 4. (1856)[1]
  13. ^ Bronowski, Jacob. The Common Sense of Science. Faber & Faber. 2011.
  14. ^ Biltoft, Benapfl, and Swain. Vacuum Technology 60A & 60B, Chapter 3: Review of Basic Vacuum Calculations. Las Positas College. Fall 2002. [2]
  15. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica online. [3]

Further reading

  • Ruskin, J., "Of the Pathetic Fallacy", Modern Painters III (1856) http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/ruskinj/
  • Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th edition. Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. ISBN 0-15-505452-X.
  • Groden, Michael, and Martin Kreiswirth (eds.). The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8018-4560-2.
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