Pathetic fallacy in ‘When the Wasps Drowned’
Teaching notes
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The term ‘pathetic fallacy’ and the way it differs from personification can be tricky to get to grips
with. However, for lower ability students, the idea of using the weather or seasons to give the
story a flavour or sense of mood is fairly straightforward.

Students of all ability ranges should be able to get to grips with the photograph task but lower
ability students could stick to attributing one adjective or mood word to each photograph. Students
could do this activity in pairs and talk too about the feeling or sense they get from each picture.

The sheet that requires students to identify the mood in extracts by various poets and authors is
fairly complex and could be put to one side if need be.

Two versions of the sheet focusing on ‘When the Wasps Drowned’ have been included – page 5
is for Higher Tier students, page 6 for Foundation Tier students.
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Mood gallery
Look at the following pictures. What emotion or mood does each one conjure up? Attach three
adjectives to each picture, eg tranquil, warm, optimistic.
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Now write one or two sentences in which you use your adjectives to describe the scene and create a
vivid mood.
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Pathetic fallacy n. when human emotions or characteristics are given to objects, nature or the
weather (especially in art or literature).
Read the examples below and try to work out the mood or overriding emotion being conjured up by
the poet or author.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘Maud’
Charles Dickens, Bleak House
There has fallen a splendid tear
From the passion-flower at the gate.
She is coming, my dove, my dear;
She is coming, my life, my fate.
The red rose cries, “She is near, she is near;”
And the white rose weeps, “She is late;”
The larkspur listens, “I hear, I hear;”
And the lily whispers, “I wait.”
Dogs, undistinguishable in mire.
Horses, scarcely better; splashed to
their very blinkers. Foot passengers,
jostling one another’s umbrellas, in a
general infection of ill temper, and
losing their foot-hold at street corners,
where tens of thousands of other foot
passengers have been slipping and
sliding since the day broke…
(Part 1, XXII, 10)
Jane Austen, Emma
The evening of this day was very
long, and melancholy, at Hartfield…A
cold stormy rain set in and nothing of
July appeared…
Charles Dickens,
Great Expectations
And the sky was just a row of long angry
red lines and black lines intermixed…
William Cowper
Walt Whitman
The fruitful field
Laughs with abundance;
Lo, the most excellent sun so calm and
haughty…
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Pathetic fallacy in ‘When the Wasps Drowned’

What mood might you expect to find in a description of a summer scene?

Jot down two ‘summer’ memories from a childhood summer holiday. Are these positive or
negative memories? Do you, personally, associate positive or negative things with summer?
Swap memories with a partner and listen to their associations.

Skim read ‘When the Wasps Drowned’ and highlight/underline all of the descriptions of the
season, the weather and any sensations that accompany it.

Now go through and:
a) annotate these descriptions with comments on the meaning and effect
b) write a sentence in which you pinpoint the mood or emotion that is conjured up.
For example:
…sheets, dried out in the heat, listless in the still air,
a) The sheets are limp and lethargic.
a) The air seems too still, almost stifling.
b) The overall mood here seems confining, perhaps even a little threatening.
Discuss with a partner
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What do you think the overall mood and emotions created by the summer weather are in the
story?
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Do you think the use of summer weather is surprising or is it used in the way you would expect?

Why might Wigfall have chosen a hot, dry summer as the backdrop for the disturbing event in her
story?
Your response

Do you think Wigfall’s use of pathetic fallacy works well or do you think it’s amateurish and
clumsy? (You need to be prepared to justify your response.)

Your task is to write a passage in which you use pathetic fallacy in a surprising or unusual way.
Initially you should aim to write approximately 200 words, though you may be asked to extend
your writing at a later date.
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Pathetic fallacy in ‘When the Wasps Drowned’

What mood might you expect to find in a description of a summer scene?

Jot down two ‘summer’ memories from a childhood summer holiday. Are these positive or
negative memories? Do you, personally, associate positive or negative things with summer?

With a partner, try to find three descriptions of weather in ‘When the Wasps Drowned’ and
highlight/underline these.

Now, for each of your three descriptions try to work out what mood or feeling is coming across in
the writing. It might help if you read each description aloud.

Join up with another pair. Talk to them about which descriptions of weather they found and
whether you all agree on what the mood is.
Discuss in your group

Why might the writer of the story, Clare Wigfall, have chosen a hot, dry summer as the backdrop
for the disturbing event in her story? Is she:
► trying to take us by surprise?
► trying to use weather and seasons in an interesting and different way?
► trying to make the finding of the body seem realistic (in real life, a dead body is as likely to be
uncovered during a hot summer as it is in the depths of winter or on a rainy day)?
► doing something else altogether, such as…
Your response

Your task is to write a paragraph in which you use the weather or time of year to give us a clear
sense of mood. It might help to imagine yourself on a journey – walking to school, for example.
Remember, don’t tell us how you’re feeling, let the landscape and weather do that.
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