Sorrow (emotion)

Sorrow is a profound and intense human emotion or sentiment. It is much stronger than simple sadness. While sadness is often a passing feeling, sorrow suggests a long-term state. Linguist Anna Wierzbicka notes that sorrow implies a degree of resignation. Resignation means a person has come to terms with a difficult reality. Some experts describe sorrow as a middle ground between two other states. It sits halfway between accepting sadness and the active distress of not accepting a situation.

Different thinkers have proposed different models for how sorrow works. Alexander Faulkner Shand viewed sorrow as a primary emotion. This means it is a fundamental building block of our emotional system. Shand argued that sorrow arises when an impulse toward an important object is frustrated. He identified two specific impulses within this emotion. The first impulse is the urge to cling to the object of sorrow. The second impulse is the desire to repair the injuries that caused the sorrow.

Shand believed these impulses could create more complex feelings like pity. He defined pity as a fusion of sorrow and joy. In this view, pity contains sorrow for an injury and a "sweetness" from joy. However, other scholars disagreed with this specific mechanism. William McDougall argued that sorrow is actually made of even simpler components. He pointed out that grief is a specific form of sorrow involving loss. In grief, there is no impulse to repair an injury, which distinguishes it from Shand's model. McDougall also argued that pity does not actually contain sorrow as a component.

History shows that the way we value sorrow has changed significantly. During the era of Cult Romanticism, there was a fascination with deep sorrow. This movement can be traced back to the 1744 book, "The Sorrows of Young Werther." This trend continued through the nineteenth century with famous poets. Alfred Tennyson wrote about sorrow in his 1851 work, "In Memoriam." Later, the poet W. B. Yeats wrote about his "high comrade Sorrow" in 1889.

Not everyone viewed the Romantic focus on sorrow as positive. Jane Austen used satire to critique what she called an "excess of suffering." She highlighted how characters might brood over their sorrows in an unrealistic way. In the 20th century, perspectives shifted again. William James observed that acting sorrowful might actually make a person feel more sorrow. Modern Anglo-emotional culture often favors the "dampening" of intense emotions. Consequently, deep sorrow has often been replaced by milder, transient sadness.

Psychologists also study the consequences of how we handle these intense feelings. Erika M. Hunter suggests that postponing sorrow can be harmful. She notes that avoiding the feeling may cause fear of it to grow. The energy of the emotion may actually increase if it is suppressed. On the other hand, some view mourning as a way to manage intense emotions. Otto Fenichel described grief as a "taming" of more violent, self-destructive impulses. This process helps turn raw distress into a more controlled form of mourning.

Some modern theories suggest that allowing sorrow to exist is helpful. Julia Kristeva suggests that "taming" sorrow is an important part of psychological analysis. Rather than fleeing from sadness, one should allow it to settle for a while. This can be an indispensable phase of understanding oneself. While postmodern culture may focus more on human comedy than "abyssal discontent," the depth of sorrow remains a significant topic. Even subcultures, such as the Jungians, still seek to connect with the "grief of all nature."