pathetic fallacy, the attribution of human response or emotion to inanimate nature. (First used by John Ruskin.)
1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. xii. §5. 160 All violent feelings.. produce.. a falseness in.. impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the ‘Pathetic fallacy’. 1856 Geo. Eliot in Westm. Rev. Apr. 631 Mr. Ruskin.. enters on his special subject, namely landscape painting. With that intense interest in landscape which is a peculiar characteristic of modern times, is associated the ‘Pathetic Fallacy’—the transference to external objects of the spectator's own emotions.

p.s. - dr. bill, this is my first posting in thread; I think you were responding to Faldage.