I've been trying over the last day or so to think of the word or term in literature where the weather or environment reflects the human emotion or condition being displayed. So for example, when a person is broken hearted it is raining outside, lightning erupts when they are angry, it is sunny when they are full of joy etc.
This all came to mind as I was coming away from the meal after a funeral. We had earlier buried someone and spent the hours since trying to come to terms with the ending of a long, good and happy life and pledging our ongoing support to those left behind.
As I walked out the door the sky was clear and the sun was setting. But it was more than the sun that was setting that day. To me it was a display of something beyond words, yes a life had set but it would rise again in eternity...
The best term I can come up with thanks to a search on the internet is "Pathetic Fallacy". That does not seem to be the term that we learnt in school though - it seems too harsh to describe something that can be so powerful and beautiful and ... numinous.
4 comments:
Ah Daniel, that's going to annoy me too now until I find out! Great photo of the sun - from the iPhone too!
Thanks Gary, I'm hoping that one of those brain-boxes like Joc or Ian will know...
Oh dear, Daniel, I'm no brain box! But I think you are probably right - I have dim memories of something pathetic fallacy from O-level Eng Lang.
Thank you very much Joc. I suppose that's probably the right phrase then...
Post a Comment