Sadness - Cultural Explorations

Cultural Explorations

  • During the Renaissance, "Edmund Spenser's high estimation of sadness renders it as a badge of sort for the spiritually elect...this endorsement of sadness" in The Fairie Queene.
  • In The Lord of the Rings, Treebeard is described as having "a sad look in his eyes, sad but not unhappy". This may be linked to the way "an early meaning of 'sad' is 'settled, determined'", exemplifying "Tolkien's theses that determination should survive the worst that can happen".
  • Julia Kristeva considered that 'a diversification of moods, variety in sadness, refinement in sorrow or mourning are the imprint of a humanity that is surely not triumphant but subtle, ready to fight and creative'.

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