Thomas Hardy and the Language of the Inanimate

Like the romantic poets, Thomas Hardy might appear "morbid" when considered in terms of John Ruskin's pathetic fallacy. As I argue, however, the pathetic fallacy is a trope, another name for personification which, more than being one trope among many, is an inherent human characteristic of language. Using various examples of Hardy's work, I demonstrate the ways in which personification operates not only as an essential trope to literature, but also as a primary aspect of language and a basic resource of knowledge.