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Pathetic fallacy is giving human feelings to something non-human.

Be careful: don't mix up pathetic fallacy with personification.

• Pathetic fallacy is always about giving emotions to something something non-human.
• Personification is giving any human attribute to an object. For example, 'The wind whispered through the trees.' or 'The flowers danced in the breeze.'

Weather and seasons

Pathetic fallacy is often used to describe the environment. The weather and season can be described with human emotions to reflect the mood of a character or create a tone.

• 'The raindrops wept around him.'
• 'A friendly sun shone down brightly on the party guests as they arrived in the garden.'
• 'The weather is miserable outside.'

Poetry and novels

In Liz Lochhead's poem The Bargain, the narrator describes a day trip to the Barras market in Glasgow. She says: 'Oh I know it's cold.'

It's January in Glasgow so it is unsurprising that it's cold outside but this reflects more than just the temperature. It reflects problems in the speaker's relationship. The pathetic fallacy suggests the warm, loving emotions have gone leaving a cold emptiness in the speaker.

William Wordsworth's poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is a great example of pathetic fallacy. Wordsworth uses pathetic fallacy to suggest the clouds are 'lonely' which reflects the speaker's own feelings of loneliness and uncertainty.

In Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights, the main character Cathy has a decision to make between two love interests: Heathcliff and Edgar. She describes a 'violent thunderstorm' when Heathcliff leaves Wuthering Heights. The stormy and aggressive weather reflects Cathy's inner feelings as she struggles to choose between the two men.