Ruskin, John - Anthony Hecht (essay date 1985)
Anthony Hecht (essay date 1985)
SOURCE: "The Pathetic Fallacy," in The Yale Review, Vol. 74, No. 4, Summer, 1985, pp. 481-99.
[In the following essay, Hecht explores the meaning of "pathetic fallacy," a term coined by Ruskin.]
Un paysage quelconque est un etat de l'ame.
—Henri-Frederic Amiel
The world is a fair field fresh with the odor of Christ's name.
—St. Augustine
My title is a famous coinage of John Ruskin's, and comes from his five-volume study called Modern Painters. I want to begin by quoting Ruskin at some length, intruding an occasional impertinent interruption, as a way of recalling to you his original and provocative formulation, while permitting myself an obbligato of comment. I begin with a sentence of his full of high disdain and mockery.
German dulness, and English affectation, have of late much multiplied among us the use of two of the most objectionable...
[The entire page is 7466 words long]
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