Note 34 — JOHN RUSKIN
Reading edition
I cannot quit this subject without giving two more instances, both exquisite, of the pathetic fallacy, which I have just come upon, in Maud:
For a great speculation had fail’d; And ever he mutter’d and madden’d, and ever wann’d with despair; And out he walk’d, when the wind like a broken worldling wail’d, And the flying gold of the ruin’d woodlands drove, thro’ the air. There has fallen a splendid tear From the passion-flower at the gate. 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.’