[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-325156-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-325156-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","spirit-a-magazine-of-poetry-the-pathetic-fallacy","SPIRIT - A MAGAZINE OF POETRY - THE PATHETIC FALLACY","","SPIRIT is a 1956 bi-monthly poetry magazine published in the United States by The Catholic Poetry Society of America. This issue includes a discussion titled “The Pathetic Fallacy,” addressing how writers attribute human emotions and qualities to inanimate things. It explains why such poetic devices often misdirect readers, contrasts sentimental misuse with playful fantasy, and argues that true emotional communication depends on maintaining rules, logic, and a clear relationship between human feeling and poetic imagination.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/spirit-a-magazine-of-poetry-the-pathetic-fallacy/325156/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/spirit-a-magazine-of-poetry-the-pathetic-fallacy/325156.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Olivia Brown","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the “pathetic fallacy” discussed in the issue?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The “pathetic fallacy” is the practice of attributing human qualities and emotions to things that cannot possess them by nature. The article treats this as a common error in submitted manuscripts.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does the article compare fancy to adulthood?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Fancy is described as something children naturally engage in, and it diminishes as adults become more governed by reason. The piece argues that fancy must be disciplined rather than discouraged for effective poetry.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Why does the article criticize certain poems that use the fallacy?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It criticizes poems that ask inanimates to act impossibly or direct readers toward a soliloquy-like lament from a sunbeam. The author argues that such misdirection weakens emotional communication and can offend by wrongly diminishing humanity.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},325156,1790582278,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,91,95,100,105,110,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":130},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":132},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":133,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146},16904993612988,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","A MAGAZINE OF POETRY  \n1956  \nC ONT ENT S  \nPoems byPAGE Poems byPAGEMargaret Carpenter……       ……15 Harry W.Paige…………………  .14Richard George ………………5 Raymond Roseliep…………………9Herbert A.Kenn.…………………5 Sister Claude of Jesus,S.N.J.M.…16Frances Stoakley Lankford……19 Sister Florian Eggleston,O.S.…18Thomas P.McDonnell…………  8 Sister St.Simon,O.S.U..…   …  6Gladys McKee……………………  …10 Daniel Sullivan,O.S.A.  ………  7Margery Mansfield …………………17 Anne Tansey ……………   …19Cyrin Maus,O.F.M.………………·9 James Edward Tobin…………10Theodore Maynard………………12  \nARTICLE—Teacbing Poetry:An Apologia,by James R.Kreuzer……………20Books REVIEWED—0 Lovely England,by Walter de la Mare;The SmallHour,by Evelyn Eaton;Where Caius Is and OtherPoems,by Sister Mary Francis,P.C.…  ……………31CoMMUNICATIONs—Neal McNanna,O.Carm.,Elizabeth Randall-Mills…31EDITORIAL—Tbe Pathetic Fallacy  \nSPIRIT,a magazine of Poetry,published bi-monthly and copyrighted,1956,in the United States,byTHE CATHOLIC PoETRY SoCIETY Or AMERICA,386 Fourth Avenue,New York,N.Y.Entered as secondclass matter,December 24,1936,at the post office at New York,N.Y.,under the act of March 3,1879.SPIRIT is indexed in the Catholic Periodical Index and the Catholic Bookman.  \nAll manuscripts should be sent to the Editor.Payment of accepted poems is made simultaneous withpublication.Only the poems of members of THE CATHOLIC PoETRY SoCIETY OF AMERICA are acceptedfor SPIRIT.Membership in the Society is open to all,irrespective of faith,who write poetry or areinterested in it.Information will be furnished on request.  \n# S PIRIT\n\nA MAGAZINE OF POETRY  \nPublished bi-monthly at 386 Fourth Avenue,New York 16,  \nN.Y,by The Catholic Poetry Society of America,Inc.  \nEditor:JoHN GILLAND BRUNINI  \nAssociate Editors:  \nFRANCIS X.CoNNOLLYA.M.SULLIVAN  \nJ.G.E.HoPKINSJAMES EDWARD ToBIN  \nConsulting Editor:JoHN S.MIDDLETON  \nContributing Editor:CLIFFORD J.LAUBE  \nBusiness Manager:GROVER A.WHALEN,JR.  \nOne Year Subscription,$3.00Single Issue,50 Cents  \n\n| VOLUME XXIII   | MARCH,1956   | NUMBER 1   |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n\n# THE PATHET IC FALLACY\n\nMANY years ago we were taught to avoid \"the pathetic fallacy\"and,  \nin order not to trip into that pitfall,to recognize one when it oc-curred.We wonder if in today's classrooms it is mentioned.Certainly weconstantly run across this fallacy in manuscripts submitted to us.Whenrejecting and commenting,the need to define(the atribution to things ofqualities they do not and cannot possess by their very natures)gives usnevertheless somewhat the same feeling we would have were we to attemptteaching the ABC's to high school students.Of course the poetic fallacy is allabout us—from Mickey Mouse on down to the versifier who depicts a birchin tears because its beloved fellow oak has been felled.Mr.Disney,however,can be exculpated.He enjoys his fancies,invites his public to do so with himand if it,in all logic,refuses to become stirred to laughter or smiles,he doubt-less would be the first to admit he had failed but on the terms he set himself.The very incongruities of a Pekinese,falling in love with a bulldog andswooning in unrequited love like any Victorian novel heroine,is meant forour funnybones and not for the sorrowful beat of our hearts.But the versi-fier with his birch’s loss of her lover is a product of neither humor nor wit.He really means,in perhaps an unwitting but certainly sentimental way,towrest sighs from his audience—if he can hold it to his last rhyme.  \nThe poetic fallacy in most instances proceeds from fancy,an activity inwhich children are continually engaged.In them,it diminishes as they ad-vance toward adulthood when reason becomes more and more a controllingfactor.Fancy,like desire,must be disciplined yet definitely not discouraged,and the poet,despite his reputation for the eye rolling in fine frenzy,must aswell keep a tight rein on this steed which in a trice can run away with himto a land where none of his readers can follow.Even in fairyland,Chestertononce wisely observed,firm rules exist","cbCaidOMndymzXbj","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidOMndymzXbj","pdf",1228655,32,"English","# THE PATHETIC FALLACY\n## Editorial discussion of the poetic fallacy\n## Fantasy, reason, and disciplined imagination\n## Misuse of vocatives and attribution of emotion","[{\"question\":\"What is the “pathetic fallacy” discussed in the issue?\",\"answer\":\"The “pathetic fallacy” is the practice of attributing human qualities and emotions to things that cannot possess them by nature. The article treats this as a common error in submitted manuscripts.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article compare fancy to adulthood?\",\"answer\":\"Fancy is described as something children naturally engage in, and it diminishes as adults become more governed by reason. The piece argues that fancy must be disciplined rather than discouraged for effective poetry.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the article criticize certain poems that use the fallacy?\",\"answer\":\"It criticizes poems that ask inanimates to act impossibly or direct readers toward a soliloquy-like lament from a sunbeam. The author argues that such misdirection weakens emotional communication and can offend by wrongly diminishing humanity.\"}]","SPIRIT - A MAGAZINE OF POETRY - THE PATHETIC FALLACY | PDF",1789969826,49]