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← ExitThe Anatomy of Melancholy

Reading language

The Author’s Summary of Melancholy, in Dialogue.

When I go musing all alone, Thinking of things I knew before, When I build castles in the air, Free from sorrow and free from fear, Pleasing myself with sweet imaginings, It seems to me that time flies by. All my other joys are foolishness beside this; Nothing is as sweet as melancholy.

When I lie awake all alone, Recalling what I have done wrong, My thoughts become my tyrants; Fear and sorrow seize me. Whether I stay still or move, It seems to me that time moves very slowly. All my other griefs are cheerful beside this; Nothing is as sad as melancholy.

When I act things out and smile to myself, Passing the time with pleasant thoughts, Beside a brook or a green wood, Unheard, unsought or unseen, A thousand pleasures bless me And crown my soul with happiness. All my other joys are foolishness; None is as sweet as melancholy.

When I lie, sit or walk alone, I sigh and grieve, bitterly lamenting, In a dark grove or a dreary den, With discontent and Furies there, A thousand miseries at once Entrench themselves in my heavy heart and soul. All my other griefs are cheerful beside this; None is as bitter as melancholy.

I seem to hear, I seem to see, Sweet music, wonderful melody, Towns, places and splendid cities; Now here, then there: the world is mine. Rare beauties, splendid ladies shine, Whatever is lovely or divine. All other joys are foolishness beside this; None is as sweet as melancholy.

I seem to hear, I seem to see Ghosts, goblins, fiends; my imagination Presents a thousand hideous shapes: Headless bears, black men and apes. Mournful cries and terrifying sights Frighten my sad and gloomy soul. All my other griefs are cheerful beside this; None is as accursed as melancholy.

I imagine courting, I imagine kissing, I imagine embracing my beloved now. O blessed days, O sweet contentment, My time is spent in paradise. May such thoughts always stir my imagination; May I always be in love like this. All my other joys are foolishness beside this; Nothing is as sweet as melancholy.

When I recall love’s many terrors, My sighs and tears, my sleepless nights, My fits of jealousy—O my cruel fate!— I now regret it, but too late. No torment is as bad as love, Or can prove so bitter to my soul. All my other griefs are cheerful beside this; Nothing is as harsh as melancholy.

Friends and companions, go away; I want to be alone. I am never well except when my thoughts and I Reign freely in private. No jewel, no treasure can equal this: It is my delight, my crown, my bliss. All my other joys are foolishness beside this; Nothing is as sweet as melancholy.

Being alone is my one great torment; I have become a beast, a monster. I want neither light nor company; I now find solitude my misery. The scene has changed, my joys are gone; Fear, discontent and sorrows come. All my other griefs are cheerful beside this; Nothing is as fierce as melancholy.

I would not exchange lives with any king; I am transported: can the world bring More joy than always laughing and smiling, Passing the time in pleasant fancies? Do not, O do not disturb me; Such sweet contentment I feel and see. All my other joys are foolishness beside this; None is as divine as melancholy.

I would exchange my condition with any wretch You could fetch from a jail or dunghill. My incurable pain is another hell; I cannot remain in this torment. Now, in despair, I hate my life; Lend me a noose or a knife. All my other griefs are cheerful beside this; Nothing is as accursed as melancholy.

59.The Greek Διαλογικῶς means in the manner of a dialogue. Twelve eight-line stanzas alternate between delight and misery. No speakers are explicitly named. The source’s repeated refrains and their variations are retained.

60.The 1651 source prints lie walking; the inspected 1638 Abstract reads lie waking. This earlier reading supports lie awake in the modern version. Walking is retained in the original column, and a printing error remains the likely explanation. Surprise here means seize or overtake, rather than astonish.

61.Ensconce evokes occupation of a fortified position: the miseries establish themselves within the heart and soul. Furies can evoke the classical powers of torment as well as raging thoughts.

62.The source reads places; it has not been silently changed to palaces. The paired acts of hearing and seeing range across the following images rather than assigning every object to both senses.

63.Both inspected editions, 1638 and 1651, include black men among the shapes presented by the speaker’s imagination. This confirms the wording, but does not settle whether dark figures, demons or people imagined in racial terms are meant. The phrase is retained without a narrower identification.

64.Will is a verb of desire: I will no light means I want no light. The changed scene makes explicit the reversal that structures the alternating stanzas.

65.Halter here means a noose. The poem ends with its darker voice rather than resolving the opposition between the two states. The next source leaf begins Gentle Reader, the opening of Democritus Junior to the Reader.