164 MORTON W.

BLOOMFIELD

it may be simple metaphor.

following Schultz,'0When we say
formal personification.
"the storm is howling Another type of pseudo-personification
outside," it is highly
may be called emblematicthe
dubious that we are personifying and frequently
noun
accompanies
in spite of the animate nature genuineofpersonification.
the verb. We
Language, created in findathis
primitive past
type when trees, rivers, and
and build-
spoken still by humans who
ings are given abstracthave
names. TheaCity
good
of
deal of the primitive Covetousness,
with its the Slough
tendencyof Despond, to
the
Tower
animism in them, is fullof Truth
of provide
these examples.
simple In
extended personification
metaphors. The problem arises chiefly narrative inani-in
connection with an odd decorative
mate objects personi-
are frequently given emblem-
atic names of this sort and
fication, for if personification help to carry is
allegory
extended over any considerable out the impression of length,
generality, combined
the
grammatical evidence becomes over- with naturalistic detail, which is, as we shall
whelming. However, in short passages thesee, most characteristic of this literary
matter is not always clear. In the case ofmode.
the Chaucerian lines just quoted it is highly Finally, we find another type of pseudo-
dubious that we have true personification, personification in certain naming habits of
as we most certainly do have three linesnovelists and dramatists. Fondlove, Wring-
further on when Chaucer writes: him, Quiverful, and Thwackum, in spite of
the fact that their names reveal their out-
When Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
standing personal characteristics, are not
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
true personifications. They are a kind of
The tendre croppes.
shorthand, often humorous, which writers,
Here the name "Zephirus" as well as a especially in the past, like to use. They are
verb of animation is the revealing sign of usually appended to minor characters who
this pathetic fallacy. move in a world of concrete beings with
This discussion has given us knowledge ordinary accidental names and possess
of one pseudo-personification: simple none of the other characteristics of true
animate metaphors. Another type of personification. Their names are often
pseudo-personification may be seen when phrasal rather than simple nouns, or if
in modern English we use feminine pro- nouns, as with Lord Steyne, are frequently
nouns for inanimate objects. When we call metaphoric rather than direct. Lord
a ship a "she," we are usually not really Steyne is degeneracy which is a stain on the
personifying it. The verbs used with these nobility.
Before we discuss some of the different
pronouns tell us whether we are truly
personifying the ship or not. We may say literary uses of personification, let us look
of a ship, "she has broken down," but the at it a little more closely from a gram-
verb here tells us that we are really not matical point of view. When we make
animating the machine. A further type of inanimate nouns animate, we are making
pseudo-personification may be found in deictic (or pointer) nouns out of non-
certain phrases of common use. When deictic nouns. In other words, unless the
Kant speaks in The Critique of Pure Reason animation is individualized, it is not a true
of reason putting certain questions to animation. The inanimate notion or object
nature, we are not dealing with a genuine must take on the general characteristics of
personification. These types of partial an individual human being, not just any
grammatical animation may be called, o10 Op. cit., pp. 2 ff.

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