Ludus

Ludus is flirting and playful affection. The feelings we have when we test what it might be like to be in love with someone. The fluttering heart and feelings of euphoria; the slightly dangerous sensation.

Ludus was the Greeks’ idea of playful love, which referred to the affection between young lovers. It is the taste of flirting and teasing especially in the early stages of a relationship.

But we also live out our ludus when we sit around bantering and laughing with friends and loved ones.

“Flirting is a woman’s trade, one must keep in practice.”
– Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

In fact, there may be many ludic activities which function as a playful substitute for the far more sordid and intense affairs of Eros – sex.

See other: Kinds of Greek Love

Pathetic Fallacy‏

The pathetic fallacy or anthropomorphic fallacy is the treatment of inanimate objects as if they had human feelings, thought, or sensations.

The pathetic fallacy is a special case of the fallacy of reification. The word ‘pathetic’ in this use is related to ‘pathos’ or ’empathy’ (capability of feeling), and is not pejorative.

In the discussion of literature, the pathetic fallacy is similar to personification. Personification is direct and explicit in the ascription of life and sentience to the thing in question, whereas the pathetic fallacy is much broader and more allusive.

This treatment is common in literature:

“The stars will awaken
Though the moon sleep a full hour later”
— Percy Bysshe Shelley

“The fruitful field
Laughs with abundance”
— William Cowper

“Nature must be gladsome when I was so happy”
— Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë