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Modern Painters, Volume 3 (of 5)

Note 58 — Chapter XII

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I cannot quit this subject without giving two more instances, both exquisite, of the pathetic fallacy, which I have just come upon, in Maude:

"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.'"

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