Home > Melancholia

Melancholia I by Albrecht Dürer.

The name melancholia comes from the old medical theory of the four humours: disease being caused by an imbalance in one or other of the four basic bodily fluids, or humours. Personality types were similarly determined by the dominant humour in a particular person. Melancholia was caused by an excess of black bile; hence the name, which means 'black bile' ( Greek μελας, melas, "black", + χολη, kholé, "bile"); a person whose constitution tended to have a preponderance of black bile had a melancholic disposition. See also: sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric.

During the early 17th century, a curious cultural and literary cult of melancholia arose in England. It was believed that the passing of the dazzling culture of Elizabethan England after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, together with religious uncertainties caused by the English Reformation and a greater attention being paid to issues of sinThis page is about sin in the context of religion. For other meanings, see Sin (disambiguation Sin has always been a term most usually used in a religious context, and today describes any lack of conformity to the will of God; especially, any willful disr, damnationIn Western Christian traditions, Damnation to hell is the punishment of the Christian God for persons with unredeemed sin. Damnation is a primary motivator for conversions to Christianity. One conception is of eternal suffocating heat, being taunted by de, and salvationIn Christianity, salvation is arguably the most important spiritual concept, second only to the divinity of Jesus Christ. For many Christians, the primary goal of religion is to attain salvation. Others maintain that the primary goal of Christians is to d, led to this cultural mood.

In music, the post-Elizabethan cult of melancholia is associated with John DowlandJohn Dowland (pronounced to rhyme with "Roland") ( 1563 February 20, 1626) was an English, possibly Irish-born composer and lutenist. He is best known today for his song "Flow, my tears". Very little is known of Dowland's early life, but it generally thou, whose motto was Semper Dowland, semper dolens. ("Always Dowland, always mourning.") The melancholy man, known to contemporaries as a "malcontent," is epitomized by Shakespeare's Prince HamletThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays. Written between 1598 and the summer of 1602, this masterpiece of Elizabethan theatre first appeared in print in 1603 in a ver, the "Melancholy Dane." Another literary expression of this cultural mood comes from the death-obsessed later works of John DonneJohn Donne (pronounced Dun 1572 March 31, 1631) was a major English poet and writer, and probably the greatest of the metaphysical poets. His works include love poetry, sermons and religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, and sonnets. Other major melancholic authors include Sir Thomas BrowneSir Thomas Browne ( October 19, 1605 October 19, 1682) was an English author of a number of works that disclose his wide learning in various fields of learning including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric. A consummate literary craftsman, his wo, and Jeremy TaylorJeremy Taylor is depicted in this portrait at Caius College, Cambridge University. Jeremy Taylor ( 1613 August 13, 1667) was a clergyman in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He was educated at, whose Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial and Holy Living and Holy Dying, respectively, contain extensive meditations on death. But the most extended treatment of the cult of melancholia comes from Robert Burton, whose Anatomy of Melancholy treats the subject from both a literary and a medical perspective.

A famous allegorical engraving by Albrecht Dürer is entitled Melancholia I; amongst other allegorical symbols, it includes a magic square, and a truncated tetrahedron. The image in turn inspired a sonnet by Edward Dowden.

A similar phenomenon, though not under the same name, occurred during Romanticism, with such works as The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe.

In the 20th century, much of the counterculture of modernism was fueled by comparable alienation and a sense of purposelessness called " anomie."