Pathetic Fallacy

"The early sunset smoldered above the forest. Boughs were like black bones athwart it. Puddles in field and paddock glowed dull red with it beneath a greenish sky as cold as the wind that eddied whimpering across them. A flight of crows passed. Their hoarse cries sounded for a while after the dusk had swallowed them up."
-Poul Anderson, Time Patrol (New York, 2006), p. 610.

I quote this opening paragraph of a chapter in the Time Patrol story, "Star of the Sea," for two reasons. First, its beauty, which includes the author's careful attention to even the minutest detail of the scene described, like the red sky reflected in pools of water and the sound of the birds lingering after they had disappeared.

Secondly, it sets the scene for a crisis between the characters. The prophetess has to be persuaded that her goddess wants her to change direction. A dark sky is the perfect preparation for a dark message from heaven. When studying aesthetics, I was taught that the "pathetic fallacy" is an author making nature reflect the characters' feelings.