Emotion
‹ 5 · Outline · 7 ›
6.Grief and mourning
Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulVol. 24
- p. 33–34Cessation of pleasure yields indifference, disappointment or grief; grief dwells lovingly on its lost object.read · scan
Thomas De Quincey, Levana and Our Ladies of SorrowVol. 27
- p. 320–321Sorrow is presented as mighty abstractions incarnate in all individual sufferings of the human heart, personified as Our Ladies of Sorrow.read · scan
6a.Whether grief should be indulged or restrained
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 126Odysseus forbids his men to weep for the lost companions to hasten escape.read · scan
- p. 133–135The crew's spirit breaks and they weep aloud, remembering Antiphates and the Cyclops; weeping brings no remedy.read · scan
- p. 141–142The reunited crew weeps; Circe bids them stop, as their long trials have worn out their spirit and their merriment.read · scan
- p. 229–230Telemachus begs her not to stir his heart with wailing.read · scan
- p. 249–250Penelope's tear-stained sorrow for her absent lord; Eurynome urges her not to sorrow forever.read · scan
- p. 263–264The tokens stir Penelope to further weeping; Odysseus urges her to cease lamenting her lost husband.read · scan
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 64–65Mourning should reach grief and go no further; true feeling shows in mourning kin.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 95–97Job's grief and weeping are not assuaged by speaking or by silence.read · scan
- p. 117–119Job's harp turned to mourning; he weeps, is grieved and troubled, and cries for help.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 636–637Ananda's grief is checked by the Buddha, who bids him not weep.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 10–11Scaevola says Laelius bears grief for Africanus reasonably, though naturally affected.read · scan
- p. 11–12Laelius admits grief at losing Scipio, denies needing medicine, and says excessive mourning shows self-love rather than love of the friend.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9
- p. 49Fabius bore the death of his consul son with astonishing composure, putting philosophers to shame.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 166–167He urges restraint of grief for the sake of the dead, friends and country.read · scan
Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12
- p. 72Pericles loses friends, sister and relatives in the plague yet keeps a proud composure and does not weep.read · scan
Plutarch, DemosthenesVol. 12
- p. 208Plutarch defends Demosthenes for restraining private grief over his daughter's death, leaving lamentation to women and attending to the commonwealth.read · scan
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 107Tears are dismissed quickly but grief is long retained; women bewail, men remember.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 240–242Arria suppresses grief, letting tears burst out only in private, then returns serene.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 154–155Augustine's grief at his mother's death, suppressed by will yet overflowing within; the boy's lament checked.read · scan
- p. 156–157He finally lets his tears flow for his mother, finding rest, and defends weeping against scorn.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 49–50Grief, weeping and patient endurance of calamity.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 255She sighs and struggles to smother rebellious tears before beginning her sorrowful history.read · scan
- p. 428Tears, sighs and sorrow break forth despite the judge's discretion and calling.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 99–100Discretion fights nature: wisest sorrow, mirth in funeral and dirge in marriage.read · scan
- p. 100–102Claudius calls prolonged grief unmanly and impious stubbornness; Hamlet despairs and finds the world weary, stale and flat.read · scan
- p. 186–189Laertes forbids his tears at Ophelia's drowning, yet nature holds her custom; grief breaks outread · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 378–381Macduff's grief at his family's slaughter; Malcolm urges giving sorrow words and turning grief into anger.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46
- p. 413–417Gonzalo urges Alonso to weigh sorrow against comfort; grief entertained brings dolour.read · scan
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47
- p. 505–509Jane mourns her husband and wishes to be alone in grief; Hammon urges her to stop mourning.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4
- p. 23–25Poet gives himself to grief, wishing night and black leaves to match his sorrow for Christ's suffering.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 180Eve's tears and pious awe soothed by Adam.read · scan
John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4
- p. 415Manoa checks lamentation: nothing here for tears in so noble a death.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 179Men mourn or rejoice too much at events.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 338Grief at bereavement is right and natural, neither absent like angels nor unconsoled like pagans; grace should overcome feelingread · scan
- p. 340Counsels that grief not prevail after a father's deathread · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 91–93Distinguishes stubborn, domineering crying from crying of pain or sorrow; neither is to be encouraged.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 204–205Sorrow nearly overwhelms him.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 666–668She shrieks and clings in vain; grief for mortal hopes overthrown is due human tears.read · scan
Leigh Hunt, Deaths of Little ChildrenVol. 27
- p. 285Argues that grief for a dead child should be allowed its tears, which relieve the soul; false philosophy denies them.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 47–48The princess weeps inconsolably over her lost ball.read · scan
- p. 206–207Two-eyes weeps bitterly from grief and hunger.read · scan
Charles Wolfe, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 822–823Sorrow is restrained; the soldiers speak no word of grief but bitterly think of the morrow.read · scan
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 926–927Grief and tears have drained the colors from her life, leaving her poor in gifts to return.read · scan
- p. 927–928Fortitude and silence hide her grief; she cannot put deep feeling into words.read · scan
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1278–1280Grief is patiently sanctified by silence rather than concealedread · scan
Walt Whitman, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1403–1404Grief is expressed without tears or words, in silent gazing.read · scan
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1153–1155The lady's weeping and the prisoner's sorrowful mood open the tale.read · scan
6b.Consolation of the bereaved
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 58–60Menelaus weeps in grief at Agamemnon's murder and is then comforted by Proteus's counsel.read · scan
- p. 66–67Penelope's sorrow and fear; the phantom bids her take courage and stop weeping.read · scan
- p. 155–156The two heroes stand sorrowing with tears falling in sad discourse.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 72–73Friends weep, rend robes and sit silent seven days seeing Job's grief.read · scan
Plato, PhaedoVol. 2
- p. 51–52Grief at death is weighed against hope; Socrates explains why he is not grieved.read · scan
- p. 110–111Friends' great sorrow at his death; Socrates tries to comfort Crito.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 777–778The friend weeps with grief at fearing she will have no share in the merit; Ananda consoles her.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Old AgeVol. 9
- p. 75–76He bore his loss heroically but not without distress, finding consolation in reunion.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 163–164Recollection of the common law of human existence and past disasters softens grief.read · scan
- p. 165Sulpicius consoles Cicero for Tullia's death, discussing grief and the awkwardness of shared mourning.read · scan
- p. 166Time softens every sorrow; wisdom should anticipate that relief rather than wait for it.read · scan
- p. 168Cicero admits overwhelming grief and finds relief in his friend's consoling letter and shared sorrow.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 77Aeneas allays common grief with cheerful words.read · scan
Paul, The Second Epistle of Paul to the CorinthiansVol. 45
- p. 517Paul spares them sorrow, wrote with many tears and anguish of heart from love.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 376–377Mourners weep and then scorn Jesus; Jesus counsels 'Fear not' and 'Weep not'.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 215–216Pliny's grief at missing the youth Cottius, whom he loved, is soothed by contemplating the statue.read · scan
- p. 216–218Sorrow for the departed is eased by their pictures.read · scan
- p. 238Pliny writes to console his sorrow for a dead youth and spares the father's grief.read · scan
- p. 273–274Advises gentle consolation; a mind in fresh grief rejects comfort like a wound shrinking from the surgeon, until time softens it.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 51Grief gave way to old delights, yet the causes of other griefs remained.read · scan
- p. 155–156Augustine grieves for his grief, worn by double sorrow; bathing and prayer fail to heal it until sleep softens it.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 7Grief and vexation alleviated by seeing a worse affliction; his color and appetite return.read · scan
- p. 10–11The brothers are consoled to find a greater calamity befell the Jinni.read · scan
Songs from the Elder EddaVol. 49
- p. 397–400Gudrun's dry, wordless grief over Sigurd slain, longing for death, and mistrust of consolationsread · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 328–330Gudrun's grief is so heavy she cannot weep; other women recount their own sorrows to draw out her tears.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 189Sancho's loud lament for his stolen ass, then consoled by Quixote's promise of replacements.read · scan
- p. 199Don Quixote offers to share the stranger's grief, holding it a consolation in affliction to have one who condoles.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 65–66Friendship eases the swellings of the heart, allowing one to impart griefs, joys, fears and hopes as in a confession.read · scan
- p. 67–68Imparting griefs to a friend lessens them and imparting joys increases them; secrecy tormented rulers like Lewis XI.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 306Lear consoles Cordelia, bidding her wipe her tears, defying weeping.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46
- p. 419Grief; Gonzalo says Sebastian rubs the sore instead of applying the plaster.read · scan
- p. 455Alonso's grief for his lost son, his madness and amazement, and Prospero's consolation through shared loss.read · scan
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47
- p. 498–500Ralph weeps with sorrow; Margery consoles him, saying naked we came from the womb and thank God.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 843–845Antonio's grief for his wife and children; Delio says time moderates wasting sorrow better than wisdom.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 418She grieves as a disconsolate widow until time moderates her sorrow.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4
- p. 20Consoles a mother to restrain wild sorrow with patience.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, LettersVol. 48
- p. 339Grief over a death should be measured by considering blessings; consolation through union of heartsread · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 272–274Gaius comforts Feeble-mind, whose unexpected welcome is like sun after dark cloud.read · scan
Joseph Addison, Westminster AbbeyVol. 27
- p. 80Tombs quell envy and desire, and melt the heart with compassion for parents' grief.read · scan
William Hamilton of Bangour, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 576Urged to dry her useless sorrow.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 294Word that Renzo reached Bergamo soothes Lucia; her tears flow more calmly.read · scan
- p. 430–431Lamentation, comfort, resignation and tears mark the parting of the two women.read · scan
- p. 603Lucia weeps bitterly; affection quickly springs from shared sickness and bereavement.read · scan
- p. 634–635The Marquis has lost his sons and wife in the plague, yet turns his grief into generosity.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CompensationVol. 5
- p. 102Grief and clinging to lost friends give way with time to recognition of the remedial force in calamity.read · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, MontaigneVol. 32
- p. 117Consolation in public calamities through shared misfortune and the sight of others' fortitude.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 155Grief and consolation in the bitter loss of his wife, with her daughter as comfort.read · scan
Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's Letter to Mrs. BixbyVol. 43
- p. 420Lincoln acknowledges the overwhelming grief of a mother losing five sons and offers consolation.read · scan
6c.Grief for a friend or kin
See also: Life and Death 9a · Friendship 9c · Old Age 2c · Family 7b
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 14–15Anguish, lamentation and mourning for his lost father.read · scan
- p. 17–18Penelope's comfortless sorrow at the song of the Achaeans' return.read · scan
- p. 22Telemachus speaks in bitter grief and resentment over his house's ruin.read · scan
- p. 48Menelaus laments the dead of Troy and above all Odysseus, whose fate unknown robs him of sleep and food.read · scan
- p. 49Telemachus weeps at his father's name, hiding his face in his mantle; Menelaus notes the grief.read · scan
- p. 64Penelope, hearing of the plot against her son, is overcome by grief, wailing on the threshold with her handmaids.read · scan
- p. 64–65Penelope's grief is expressed in lament and reproach of the women.read · scan
- p. 112–113Odysseus weeps at the song of Troy, compared to a widow wailing over her fallen husband; Alcinous notices his grief.read · scan
- p. 136–137Eurylochus is speechless with grief and tears at his comrades' fate, then begs not to be taken back.read · scan
- p. 147Odysseus's grief at seeing his mother's ghost; he holds her back from the blood.read · scan
- p. 149Penelope's nights and days are spent in tears; Laertes nurses his mighty grief.read · scan
- p. 150Sharp grief rises each time the shade eludes him.read · scan
- p. 169–170The men weep for their companions devoured by Scylla.read · scan
- p. 187Eumaeus mourns his absent lord.read · scan
- p. 189Eumaeus's grief and love for his master.read · scan
- p. 190Eumaeus grieves for his lost master and laments Telemachus, unwilling to be reminded.read · scan
- p. 209Sorrow for a lost son kills Anticleia and afflicts Laertes.read · scan
- p. 217–218Laertes, grieving for Odysseus, neglects food and fieldwork and wastes away.read · scan
- p. 260Both mourn: Odysseus forbears to weep in another's house; Penelope wastes her heart in longing.read · scan
- p. 266–267Eurycleia is moved and troubled at heart, weeping for her master.read · scan
- p. 270Penelope describes measureless sorrow and cares by night, likening her troubled soul to the nightingale bewailing her child.read · scan
- p. 272Penelope's ceaseless grief for the absent Odysseus; her bed watered with tears until Athene sends sleep.read · scan
- p. 274Penelope wakes and weeps; sleep loosens Odysseus's cares.read · scan
- p. 284–285Penelope weeps and laments over her lord's bow before bringing it to the suitors.read · scan
- p. 285–286Eumaeus and the neatherd weep at the sight of the bow, and Antinous rebukes them for stirring Penelope's pain.read · scan
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 33The Master gives way to grief at Yen Yuan's death, saying for whom else should he grieve.read · scan
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 7–8Fear replaces sleep for the watchman; he weeps in grief for the troubled house.read · scan
- p. 38–39Clytemnestra describes her grief, sleeplessness, and dreams of husband's death, and near suicide.read · scan
- p. 65–67The Chorus's grief and love for the slain king, and its horror at his shameful death.read · scan
Aeschylus, The Libation-BearersVol. 8
- p. 93–95Grief, wrath and mourning gestures; the chorus's sadness and rising hope.read · scan
Aeschylus, Prometheus BoundVol. 8
- p. 179–181Okeanos leaves and the Chorus weeps in grief for Prometheus.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 72Job receives successive messages of ruin and death of his children, and responds with mourning rites.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 269Grief and desolation expressed in lament, weeping and isolation.read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 237Jocasta rushes out in wild sorrow, having grasped the truth, and the chorus fears evil from her silence.read · scan
Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8
- p. 267Antigone wails like a bird finding its nest emptied, cursing those who stripped the corpse.read · scan
- p. 294Grief and terror: Eurydice swoons, Creon shrieks, Haemon mourns his lost bride in passionate embrace.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 58The mother's great grief drives her to threaten her surviving son with betrayal.read · scan
- p. 64The king is above measure grieved at his daughter's death and honors her memorably.read · scan
Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8
- p. 338–340Theseus' grief and horror at finding Phaedra hanged; the wailing handmaids and chorus mourn her death.read · scan
- p. 340–342Theseus' overwhelming grief and desire for death, tears, and dread as he finds Phaedra's tablet.read · scan
Euripides, The BacchaeVol. 8
- p. 430–432Agave's anguish and Cadmus' lament for Pentheus.read · scan
Plato, CritoVol. 2
- p. 31–32Crito's sorrow and sleeplessness contrast with Socrates' cheerful calm.read · scan
Plato, PhaedoVol. 2
- p. 47Xanthippe cries out and beats herself in grief at Socrates' impending death.read · scan
- p. 111–112The jailer weeps in sorrow for Socrates; Socrates responds with gentle appreciation.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 635–636Deities weep and roll on the ground in grief while Ananda weeps, contrasted with passionless deities' patient acceptance.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 168–169Fresh grief breaks out; neither home nor public life can console him, since each sorrow was once eased by the other.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 145–151Mortal fear grips the crew; grief at the father's death after a thousand toils.read · scan
- p. 167Grief and despair of Dido and her sister Anna at the death.read · scan
- p. 167Anna's grief as she embraces the dying queen.read · scan
- p. 202Aeneas grieves and groans over the pilot's death, lamenting his trust in the calm sea.read · scan
- p. 232Anchises weeps for young Marcellus, whose early death will cause great grief.read · scan
- p. 282Evander weeps and laments his lost strength; the crowd fears the coming war.read · scan
- p. 305Her grief drives her to rend her hair and cry for death; the Trojans weep.read · scan
- p. 344–350Aeneas weeps over Lausus; Mezentius laments in anguish, sprinkling dust on his head.read · scan
- p. 355Aeneas weeps and laments Pallas, grieving for Evander who will receive his son's body.read · scan
- p. 355Silent grief breaking into sobs and lament over the corpse.read · scan
Plutarch, PericlesVol. 12
- p. 73–74Pericles, having resisted grief, is overcome and weeps for the first time on garlanding the body of his last legitimate son.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 252–253His grief at Tullia's death is so excessive that philosophers come to comfort him.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 283Caesar and Pompey are much afflicted by Julia's death.read · scan
Plutarch, AntonyVol. 12
- p. 381Cleopatra tears her clothes, beats her breast and disfigures her face in grief at Antony's death.read · scan
- p. 384–385Cleopatra's grief and her fear for her children shape her choices, breaking her purpose of starving herself.read · scan
- p. 385Her wild grief, self-inflicted blows, and supplication before Caesar.read · scan
- p. 386Tears and grief for the lost Antony and her captivity.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 197Pliny grieves inconsolably for his friend, the more so because the death was voluntary.read · scan
- p. 197–199Pliny's grief for the loss of Corellius is inconsolable; commonplace reflections are too weak to support him.read · scan
- p. 273Grief at the death of Fundanus's fourteen-year-old daughter; wedding money turned to funeral; a parent's tenderness overrides philosophical fortitude.read · scan
- p. 307–309Pliny's grief and anxiety at Fannia's dying, a renewed loss of her mother.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 41–42Monica's grief and streaming tears for her son's perdition.read · scan
- p. 48–49Overwhelming grief at his friend's death darkens everything; tears alone are sweet and he becomes a riddle to himself.read · scan
- p. 51Augustine describes overwhelming grief at a friend's death: weeping, restlessness, a shattered soul finding no repose in pleasures, books or music.read · scan
- p. 52–53Mourning at a friend's death turns sweetness to bitterness.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 928–929Jacob's eyes whiten with repressed grief; he complains of his sorrow only to God.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 8Grief and terror at Grendel's nightly slaughter; Hrothgar labors in woe and sorrow for twelve years.read · scan
- p. 15–18Hrothgar's sorrow for his slain warriors and blood-stained hall.read · scan
- p. 32–34Hildeburh's sorrow and bewailing at dawn as she sees her kinsmen lying dead.read · scan
- p. 40Grendel's mother mourns her son and seeks vengeance; Hrothgar is sad at heart at the loss of his dearest thane.read · scan
- p. 40–41Hrothgar's renewed grief at Æschere's death, and the sorrow of the Danes, answered by a plea for help.read · scan
- p. 61Hrothgar's heaviest sorrow at his councillor's death.read · scan
- p. 65–66The lone survivor weeps day and night in sorrow until death.read · scan
- p. 68–70Father's grief at his hanged son's fate, unavenged, in a sorrow-song.read · scan
- p. 70–72Hrethel's grief for his accidentally slain son, who cannot be avenged; an empty hall, no harp or revel.read · scan
The Destruction of Dá Derga's HostelVol. 49
- p. 219–220Ingcel and Lomna express grief for lost kin and dread before the Destruction.read · scan
- p. 224Fer rogain weeps silently for most of the night on recognizing the king's sons, whom he must help destroy.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 45–46The young man weeps bitterly over his affliction, half his body turned to stone.read · scan
- p. 62–63The portress rends her clothes and faints from grief; the Khalifeh's curiosity grows.read · scan
- p. 130–131Grief overcomes the wife when she discovers his missing hand.read · scan
- p. 148The governor weeps, covering his face, and the mother weeps incessantly for her murdered daughter.read · scan
- p. 200–201Nur-ed-Din long remains in violent grief for his father until a friend bids him cheer up.read · scan
- p. 266The neighbour's grief for his wife and his despair at his own coming burial.read · scan
- p. 326–327Utmost grief and vexation befall him over childlessness.read · scan
- p. 343Longing, weeping and swooning for grief at his brother's death.read · scan
- p. 381The Sultan's grief and tears, and the youth's terror of another night.read · scan
- p. 405–406The Sultan is amazed and tearful at his daughter's disappearance.read · scan
Songs from the Elder EddaVol. 49
- p. 363–365Sigrun's tears fall as blood on Helgi's breast; his wounds bleed with her sorrow.read · scan
- p. 374–377Gudrun wakes to her husband's blood and wrings her hands in griefread · scan
- p. 396–397Gudrun's lament over Sigurd's murder: tearful search, the grieving horse Grani, her brothers' cruel tidingsread · scan
- p. 418–421Gudrun's long lament pours out grief and sorrow at successive griefs and betrayals.read · scan
- p. 421–423Gudrun catalogs her griefs, Sigurd's death, Swanhild's trampling, her brothers' murders, and longs for death's release.read · scan
- p. 424–426Gudrun's loneliness likened to the aspen alone; grief awakens with day.read · scan
- p. 436–438Her lament ends the tale of ill-fate; she wonders how she survives her sorrow.read · scan
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 121–122Karl weeps, hides his face, and is filled with foreboding grief for Roland and the ruin Ganelon has wrought.read · scan
- p. 150–151Roland's heart is heavy and his spirit groans seeing his vassals dead and remembering France and Carlemaine.read · scan
- p. 156–157Roland weeps over his slain warriors and says he would die of grief.read · scan
- p. 160–161Roland faints and weeps in grief over his dying friend.read · scan
- p. 161–162Roland swoons in grief and sweats with wrath and pain.read · scan
- p. 166–168Roland and Turpin weep; Roland swoons for sorrow beyond control.read · scan
- p. 177–179Karl weeps and wails for Roland and his peers until sorrow overcomes him; sorrow teaches much.read · scan
- p. 179–180Karl weeps over the dead, faints, and laments Roland as his pride and glory gone.read · scan
- p. 185–187Alda dies of grief on hearing of Roland's death; Karl weeps and the Franks bewail her.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 311–312Gudrun answers the foretelling with grief and woe.read · scan
- p. 324–325Sigurd's heart swells with grief until his mail bursts.read · scan
- p. 327–328Gudrun's weeping; Brynhild laughs at her moaning.read · scan
- p. 337–338Gudrun's grief for slain Sigurd; she deems death merrier than life and is solaced only partly by needlework.read · scan
- p. 339–340Gudrun's wrath and lingering grief for Sigurd, the first of men.read · scan
- p. 356–357Gudrun's lament recounts her griefs from Sigurd to Swanhild, left with no son or daughter to comfort her.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 135–136Ugolino speaks of sorrow past cure, weeping as he tells it.read · scan
- p. 136–137Ugolino's stony, tearless grief and the children's anguish in starvation.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 238Dante weeps to see his dead friend Forese so transformed; sound of weeping and song mingles pleasure and pain.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 66–68Grief shown in weeping, tearing hair and heavy moan, and Gregor's anger at his mother.read · scan
- p. 80–82Mother's grief and wish drive the return; sons fear she will go mad if they are missed.read · scan
- p. 96–98Percy grieves over the dead Douglas, wishing he had lost his land instead.read · scan
- p. 104–106The mother's grief and curse at her son's slaying, and Hamilton's dismay at his burning hall.read · scan
- p. 106–108Hamilton's heavy heart on seeing his hall burn and his lament for his slain lady.read · scan
- p. 114–116Mother and bride tear their hair; Sarah kisses her slain lord and drinks his blood, in deep sorrow.read · scan
- p. 116–118Sarah blames the cattle that brought sorrow; Marie's tears blind her on her return.read · scan
- p. 120–122Grief in the glen for Braikley contrasts with the lady's supposed joy with Inverey.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 167–168Bors's sorrow and anguish at the dilemma; told Lionel is dead.read · scan
- p. 168–169Bors swoons in grief at Lionel's apparent death and declares he will never have joy again.read · scan
- p. 175–177Bors weeps and makes marvellous sorrow over the slain priest.read · scan
William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas MoreVol. 36
- p. 125Sorrow and weeping of daughter and beholders.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 82–83His grief at his father's death is lessened because he half guessed it; he rages at the hunchback woman.read · scan
- p. 169Felice's grief and rage, beating the maid, and Cellini's distress at Cencio's illness show strong feeling.read · scan
Ambroise Paré, Journeys in Diverse PlacesVol. 38
- p. 42–43De Bauge weeps and laments on hearing of his brother's death.read · scan
- p. 48–49Paré grieves at the Count's death and wishes his pupil had seen the battlefield.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, Of FriendshipVol. 32
- p. 83–84Grief at his friend's death makes present pleasures redouble his sorrow.read · scan
- p. 84–85Grief at his friend's death: he feels only half himself and life's delights have perished.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 223Sancho fears he will weep at seeing his master's mad pranks and is still grieving for his lost ass.read · scan
Balow; The Old Cloak; Jolly Good Ale and OldVol. 40
- p. 186–188Grief, sorrow and lingering tenderness of the abandoned mother.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 20–22Isabella's grief, sighs and tears; she calls herself miserable.read · scan
- p. 22Isabella wrings her hands and beats her breast in grief.read · scan
- p. 87–89Isabella's grief and longing for death; the young king's tears and mourning at his father's hearse.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 174–177Ophelia, distracted by grief, sings of her dead father and lost love; the Queen pities her.read · scan
- p. 177–178Ophelia's mad songs of death, betrayed love and her father's burial show poisonous grief; the King notes sorrows come in battalions.read · scan
- p. 179–182Laertes' grief and rage at Ophelia's madness; Ophelia's broken songs express sorrow for her father's deathread · scan
- p. 195His gorge rises with disgust and grief at the skull of one he lovedread · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 281Edgar grieves at his father's suffering and struggles to keep his disguise.read · scan
- p. 286Cordelia's grief at her father's plight is described, patience and sorrow striving in her face like sunshine and rain.read · scan
- p. 315Lear's howling grief and confusion of mind, unable to know Kent.read · scan
- p. 315Lear's grief for Cordelia and the fool; general woe; Edgar says speak what we feel.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 377–378Ross reports Scotland's grief, then tells Macduff his wife and babes are slaughtered.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46
- p. 413Ferdinand weeps for his father; Miranda pities; grief is called beauty's canker.read · scan
- p. 417Alonso's grief for his lost son and distant daughter overwhelms Gonzalo's chatter.read · scan
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47
- p. 505Jane's grief at news of her husband's death.read · scan
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47
- p. 679The boy weeps by the fountain and expresses his grief through his garland of flowers.read · scan
William Drummond, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 327–328Lute becomes harbinger of woe; grief for a dead beloved voice.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15
- p. 344Donne's grief at his wife's death fills his soul; he laments like Job and the exiled Israelites.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 111Pauline's grief and anguish at his rapture at dying.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4
- p. 18–20Grief and plaintive questioning at the child's untimely death.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at Horton, 1632-1638Vol. 4
- p. 57The Spirit is harrowed with grief and fear; the Second Brother laments his sister's helplessness.read · scan
- p. 72Grief at the friend's loss, compared to canker in the rose and frost on flowers.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 331Adam weeps like a father mourning children destroyed at once, and laments the burden of foreknowledge.read · scan
Abraham Cowley, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 366–368Grief at the friend's death: sleepless, tearful, wishing he had died in his place, life tedious.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 254Mourning as for an only son.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 189–190Mercy weeps for her relatives; tears are said to be gathered and rewarded.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 94Antony moves from rage and bitterness at supposed betrayal to grief at her death.read · scan
- p. 94–100Cleopatra's grief and haste, arriving too late, mourning the dying Antony.read · scan
Jean Racine, PhaedraVol. 26
- p. 191Theramenes's grief and the terror of the onlookers.read · scan
Jonathan Swift, On the Death of Esther Johnson [Stella]Vol. 27
- p. 124–125Swift's sorrow shows in his avoidance of the church's light; she showed composure, never crying out or fearing.read · scan
William Hamilton of Bangour, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 572–574Bride's sorrow and lament at her slain lover; landscape echoes dule and sorrow.read · scan
- p. 574–576Grief, mourning and horror as she sees the bleeding ghost and addresses the dead youth.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 96Long and bitter regret at his son's death.read · scan
Alison Rutherford Cockburn, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 482Lament and loss of the speaker's joy.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24
- p. 383He speaks of sorrow, desolation and the calamity that condemned him to obscurity.read · scan
- p. 406Grief at his son's death; convulsive struggles of irritable nature before submission.read · scan
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna von Barnhelm, or The Soldier's FortuneVol. 26
- p. 304–305The widow's grief has brought her to a sick bed.read · scan
William Cowper, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 542–543Fixed care and grief make pleasant scenes joyless; then filial grief at his mother's portrait.read · scan
John Logan, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 500–501Grief and sorrow dominate the ballad: mourning of the lover, mother and sister at the loss.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 124–127Martha's grief and despair at her husband's death.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 321–322Brackenburg weeps and reports his horror at the sight of the black scaffold.read · scan
- p. 328–329Ferdinand's grief and anguish at the certainty of Egmont's doom.read · scan
Anonymous PoemsVol. 41
- p. 498–499Longing, weeping and grief at the lover's loss, ending in discovery of his drowned body.read · scan
Thomas Chatterton, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 558–559Grief expressed through refrain, tears and images of raven and death-owl.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 40–42Hughoc stands mute and helpless with grief at the sheep's dying.read · scan
- p. 42–44The bard mourns the sheep with tears; grief is for friendship, not for lost wealth.read · scan
- p. 269–271Mourning bard weeps at the grave, his grief renewed by the death of his beloved Stella.read · scan
- p. 271–274Grief of the solitary bard and of Isabella at a brother's death; Caledonia's woe.read · scan
- p. 298–300Isabella's grief and despair over her sister's loss and brother-in-law's suicide.read · scan
- p. 314–316Grief and longing pervade the laments over lost son and lost life.read · scan
- p. 382–384Grief and lament for the dead friend; Nature and Pity mourn him.read · scan
- p. 384–386Poet's grief poured out in wailing and tears for his lost friend.read · scan
- p. 394–396Grief at the loss of Eliza; nature's charms cease to please.read · scan
- p. 400–401Speaker's grief over lost love and the aged bard's lament for his dead lord, set against cheerful natureread · scan
- p. 402–403Voice of woe and despair at a benefactor's death; sorrow in secret loveread · scan
- p. 486–488The sonnet voices grief, so that spring's cheer grates on the mourner's soul.read · scan
- p. 491–492Sorrow of a wife who lost her man, and a woman who weeps sleepless nights for a lover gone for ever.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 477–480The queen's widowed grief contrasts with the peasants' bitter dissatisfaction at her appeal to old love and grace.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 600–602Matthew's sigh of pain and grief remembered at his daughter's grave, and the sight of another child.read · scan
- p. 604–606Deep grief for a lost friend has humanized the poet's soul; he can no longer see a smiling sea as before.read · scan
- p. 620Luke sobs aloud at his father's recollections of their shared life.read · scan
- p. 620The old man's grief breaks out at the corner-stone; sorrow at Luke's disgrace is endured by strength of love.read · scan
- p. 674–676The poet's grief at remembering his beloved's loss, the worst pang of sorrow.read · scan
Charles Lamb, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 735–736Grief and loneliness over lost companions, loves, and friends, in the refrain 'all are gone'.read · scan
- p. 736Pity and sorrow for the little dead child.read · scan
Walter Savage Landor, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 902–903Grief, silent anguish, tears and sobs at a dying woman's bedside and in a father's wordless sorrow.read · scan
- p. 903–905Grief and tender remembrance in the epitaphs and lines on lost loved ones.read · scan
Robert Surtees, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 769–770The lady tears her hair and kneels in grief at Barthram's side.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 489–490Agnese's painful memories of Lucia's ordeal are revived at the place; the curate's nervousness.read · scan
- p. 549–550Renzo's grief at hearing the list of dead friends and relatives; Don Abbondio's fearful, fretful agitation.read · scan
Thomas De Quincey, Levana and Our Ladies of SorrowVol. 27
- p. 321–322Our Lady of Tears embodies grief, lamenting vanished faces and weeping for lost children, visiting all sleepless mourners.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 62–63King weeps and grieves at the stone figure of Johnread · scan
- p. 98Cinderella's grief is shown in her daily weeping at her mother's grave.read · scan
- p. 119Weeping of the old mother and King's bitter grief and compassion.read · scan
- p. 195The mother's grief continues day and night until the child's plea lets her bear sorrow patiently.read · scan
George Gordon, Lord Byron, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 785–787Grief too deep for tears, regret at not keeping vigil by her bed.read · scan
- p. 808–809Loneliness and grief make him weep and smile; his heart grows sick at the thought of profaning the graves.read · scan
- p. 809Tears and heaviness as he returns to the darkness of the dungeon.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The CenciVol. 18
- p. 346Bernardo's grief at bringing the news; Beatrice weeps at his sorrow.read · scan
- p. 347–350Grief, remorse and tears among the condemned; Beatrice urges cheer and sings a lullaby.read · scan
William Cullen Bryant, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1219–1221Grief and longing for lost friends, broken heart and streaming eye.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 449Diary shows Scott's grief and struggle against hopelessness while his wife lies dying.read · scan
- p. 449–450Scott's heart is firm and weak by turns; grief, loneliness and hysterics.read · scan
- p. 450–451Scott describes weeping, stupor and the terrible violence of hysterical grief for Charlotte.read · scan
Thomas Hood, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 905–908Longing, sorrow and pity pervade both the farewell to Ines and the lament for the drowned woman.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 147–149Grief at his wife's death after seven and a half years is beyond description.read · scan
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 934–935She weeps, sinks and quails over the letters and doubts whether her sadness comes from him or herself.read · scan
Helen Selina, Lady Dufferin, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 919–920Loneliness, grief and gratitude at his wife's loss.read · scan
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1267–1269Night brings repose and bids care cease complaining; sorrow and longing over the beloved deadread · scan
- p. 1299–1300Grief at the youth's death; the narrator's blood grows chill.read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, The Poetic PrincipleVol. 28
- p. 385–387Poems dramatize sorrow for a departed beloved and pity for a drowned outcast woman.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 226Jemmy accepts his father's death with resignation, having dreamed it.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 973–975Grief of the widow who cannot weep until the child is brought; the lover's yearning.read · scan
- p. 975–976Grief for a vanished hand and a voice that is still.read · scan
- p. 1010–1011Mother's anguish and half-mad grief begin to showread · scan
- p. 1011–1012Maternal grief and madness, shame and anguish over her son's executionread · scan
- p. 1012–1013Grief and torment at her son's cry from the cell and her mistreatmentread · scan
- p. 1047–1049Grief and passion so intense they sharpen his sense for small things; he bids his stone heart have courage.read · scan
- p. 1051–1053Overwhelming grief and loathing of the crowd drive him to weep his whole soul out for her.read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1225–1227Narrator sorrows for lost Lenore and is filled with fantastic terrors at midnight.read · scan
- p. 1231–1233Psyche's terror and the narrator's dawning grief on finding the tomb of his lost Ulalume.read · scan
William Makepeace Thackeray, Jonathan SwiftVol. 28
- p. 13–14Grief at Temple's illness described in verse, with mourning marking every face.read · scan
Robert Browning, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1108–1109Longing, grief and yearning for the lost loved one.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 38The shipmates miss the man at every turn, like losing a limb.read · scan
- p. 120–121The cook's grief at parting from his pig, in tears and hurt feeling.read · scan
- p. 195The narrator grieves to find his dog Bravo dead, and the Kanakas greet him warmly.read · scan
Charles Kingsley, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1060–1062Grief and loneliness of the abandoned woman and mourning of the drowned girl.read · scan
Walt Whitman, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1414–1416Grief for the beloved dead; the drooping star seems full of woe and the poet's soul sinks troubled.read · scan
- p. 1416–1417The bird's song of uttermost woe answers the poet's grief.read · scan
Coventry Patmore, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1112Grief, bewilderment and tenderness in recollecting the last afternoon.read · scan
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1151–1153The parenthetic voice laments lonely Heaven and life wrung out alone.read · scan
Christina Georgina Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1181–1183Grief and agony overcome the couple before their end.read · scan
Alexander Smith, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1147Hopeless grief for Barbara, who will never come again; desolate rain and wounded sea.read · scan
6d.Grief at separation, exile and loss of home
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 69Odysseus sits weeping on the shore, straining his soul with tears and groans.read · scan
- p. 72Odysseus mourns his lost return, weeping constantly, his life ebbing away in longing for home.read · scan
- p. 102–103Odysseus answers that sorrow and longing for home weigh on him more than sport.read · scan
- p. 179–180Odysseus laments and bewails his country, wandering in grief and anxiety.read · scan
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 51–52Lament and grief for herself, her city Ilion and its ruin, met with the Chorus's terror and sorrow.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 242–244Grief and reproach of a people brought very low, sighing prisoners, cry for vengeance.read · scan
- p. 318–319Exiles weep by Babylon's rivers, grief and longing for Zion, and vengeful hatred toward captors and Edom.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 86–89Exiled Cicero, in floods of tears, laments his fall and regrets clinging to life, unable to write more for weeping.read · scan
- p. 90Overwhelmed by tears and sorrow, he calls himself a living corpse and cannot think of his brother without weeping.read · scan
- p. 90He fears a meeting and parting would renew lamentation; separation is a lesser misery than such a farewell.read · scan
- p. 90Cicero in exile laments overwhelming grief and humiliation, declaring no wisdom or philosophy can sustain such a weight of sorrow.read · scan
- p. 90–94Sorrow and tears overwhelm him; he grieves that his children's orphan state will pain his brother.read · scan
- p. 160–161Cicero says he has mourned for his country more deeply than any mother for her only son.read · scan
Plutarch, DemosthenesVol. 12
- p. 211–212He bursts into lamentation, grieving at leaving a city of enemies and looking tearfully toward Attica.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 244Cicero is dejected and disconsolate in exile like an unfortunate lover, looking back to Italy.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 142Grieving like a child at leaving a place is unworthy.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 71Monica's grief is frantic, with groans and wailing over her son's departure.read · scan
- p. 96His heart, clinging to her, is torn, wounded and bleeding at the parting.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 97The damsels weep at parting, fearing he will disobey.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 203Guido prefers weeping to words from pity for his countrymen's degeneracy.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 114Arthur weeps and feels no joy can remedy his sorrow; the queen hides her grief, and the court weeps at the knights' departure.read · scan
- p. 138–139Percivale is overcome by sorrow at losing sight of Galahad and sits down grieving beyond measure.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 336–337He cannot refrain from sighing and weeping throughout the journey.read · scan
- p. 364–365Grief nearly deprives him of reason, though he makes a virtue of necessity.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 170Sorrow at departure, sleeplessness and grief of the knight and princess dramatized.read · scan
- p. 383The farewell is marked by much feeling and tears on both sides.read · scan
- p. 412Her filial grief and pity contrast with her love for the narrator.read · scan
- p. 415Zoraida's doleful lament and compassion for her father tied and left ashore.read · scan
- p. 443–444Don Louis weeps and cannot answer the judge.read · scan
- p. 444Don Louis wrings the judge's hands and weeps from heartfelt grief.read · scan
Edmund Spenser, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 251Desolate grief at separation; the day is dark and life dead without her.read · scan
Francis Pretty, Sir Francis Drake's Famous Voyage Round the WorldVol. 33
- p. 216Natives weep lamentably and turn joy to sorrow at the English departure.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 19Tears and torment at parting; Gaveston's felicity lies only in the king's looks.read · scan
- p. 66Edward's grief at parting from his friends, and the abbot's pity.read · scan
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's HolidayVol. 47
- p. 475Jane weeps and cannot speak at parting; the men are heavy with sorrow.read · scan
John Donne, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 310–311The poet's grief at parting and his pity for the doomed flower and heart.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 809Fear, sorrow and foreboding at parting; the duchess says knowledge brings truer sense of sorrow.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 319Adam stands heart-struck with chilling sorrow; Eve laments aloud at the unexpected stroke of exile.read · scan
- p. 319Eve grieves for her flowers and nuptial bower; Adam feels dejection and despair at departure.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise RegainedVol. 4
- p. 371Their joy turns to perplexity and lament at losing him.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 209–210Her heart burned within her and grew heavy at leaving relations.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 67–69Cleopatra, spent after her rival's scorn, retires to weep her fill of grief; Antony dreads the tears of parting.read · scan
- p. 84Mutual grief at parting; Antony's struggle between tears and resolve.read · scan
John Gay, Love in Her Eyes Sits Playing; Black-Eyed SusanVol. 40
- p. 402–403Tears and sighs at the sorrowful parting of the lovers.read · scan
Adam Austin, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 532–533Grief and endless woe drive him to rove distant climates.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 509Grief of parting exiles, weeping and clinging to their bowers.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 331–332Ferdinand overwhelmed with grief at parting; Egmont relieved of care and fear.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 392–394Tears, blessings and clinging children mark the parting.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 224–226Bursting anguish and tears at departure.read · scan
- p. 238–239Grief and anguish at leaving his native land and ties of love.read · scan
- p. 267–269The poet's grief at Willie's absence recurs in every stanza; joy and pleasure have fled.read · scan
- p. 283–285Sorrow for the exiled Lass of Albany, wronged by a usurper, with hope of her return.read · scan
- p. 356–358Fear at the battle's thuds and a woman's weeping grief for her exiled lover.read · scan
- p. 396–398Grief, longing and vengeful anger of the captive queen; the old man's tears for lost sons.read · scan
- p. 419–421Exile's grief, longing for friends, love and peaceread · scan
- p. 437–439Slave weeps bitter tears for friends and homeland.read · scan
William Lisle Bowles, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 682Wanderer at the cliffs grieves at parting from friends and scenes, then quells the heart's risings, knowing regret is fruitless.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 51–52Renzo departs with fury in his heart; sorrow overwhelms him so he knows not what he says.read · scan
- p. 132–133Farewells with emotion beyond words, faltering voices and the friar's presentiment of meeting again.read · scan
- p. 133Lucia shudders at Don Rodrigo's palace, finds her cottage in the distance and weeps secretly.read · scan
- p. 134–135Elegiac farewell to native mountains and home; sorrow of exile for one whose hopes were all rooted there.read · scan
- p. 135–136Lucia secretly dries her tears and pretends to wake.read · scan
- p. 137–138Weary travellers' dread and sorrow; Lucia weeps and Renzo can barely restrain tears at parting.read · scan
- p. 282–283Relief at escape, farewell to his hated country, pity and sorrow for those left behind.read · scan
- p. 285–286Renzo relates his sad story with emotion and cannot bear to speak of Lucia's cottage.read · scan
- p. 295–296Lucia's melancholy thoughts and Gertrude's fleeting anger softened by affection; sorrow of waiting for news of Renzo.read · scan
- p. 298–299Agnese leaves forlorn and perplexed, like a blind man who lost his staff.read · scan
- p. 312The blow of leaving the betrothed and Agnese undefended strikes him.read · scan
- p. 425–426Lucia feels the doubly bitter sorrow of leaving a once-loved place that can never be so again.read · scan
- p. 546Seeing his village, his heart beats violently with mournful recollections and dread of Lucia's and Agnese's fate.read · scan
- p. 638–639Sorrow is mingled with everything; leaving home is grieved yet eased by bitter memories, likened to a weaning infant.read · scan
J. Wilson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1064Longing and homesickness of exiled Highlanders.read · scan
George Gordon, Lord Byron, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 787–789Sorrow, silence and tears at parting; shame and shudder at hearing the faithless lover's name.read · scan
- p. 792–794Strange quiet and slight patience after trouble, yet longing and tears for the absent beloved.read · scan
Thomas Hood, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 908–910Despair, pity, and nostalgic sorrow for childhood.read · scan
Thomas Babington Macaulay, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 917Pleading of young and old for delay expresses fear and longing for life.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 266–267Eliza weeps and feels downcast and longing after her rejection.read · scan
- p. 275Eliza weeps and mourns amid splendor, fearful and grieving, unable to explain herself.read · scan
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1313–1314Evangeline's anguish and calling for Gabriel, the wailing of women and children after the tidings of ill.read · scan
- p. 1314–1315Gabriel pale with emotion, tears in Evangeline's eyes, her father's heavy heart.read · scan
- p. 1315–1316Despair and wildest entreaties on the shore; Evangeline tries to comfort her father.read · scan
- p. 1316Sorrow of the exiles; the father's vacant face, and priest and daughter weep together in silence.read · scan
- p. 1317Crowd's anguish at loss of their homes; Evangeline's terror and swoon.read · scan
- p. 1318Heartbroken exiles, despair, and a spirit hungry with longing.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 8Sentiment of leaving native land, with no time allowed for it on shipboard.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23
- p. 385–386Dana feels lament for the vanished boats, Kanakas, hides and shipmates.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1123–1124Children's pain and longing at her absence.read · scan
6e.Public mourning and ritual lament
See also: Custom and Convention 8a · Religion 5c · Life and Death 9b · Honor 11a
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 144Crew break down in lament, tearing their hair, on learning they must journey to the dead.read · scan
- p. 330–331Grief and weeping of the Ithacans and Eupeithes for the slain wooers, and pity and amazement at his speech.read · scan
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 59–60A mourner has no taste for sweets or ear for music and is unhappy at home.read · scan
Aeschylus, The Libation-BearersVol. 8
- p. 76–77Mourning women tear cheeks and garments in grief; dread stiffens the hair.read · scan
Aeschylus, Prometheus BoundVol. 8
- p. 181–182All lands, and Atlas and the sea, lament Prometheus's woes.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 245–246People fed with the bread of tears, scorned by neighbors.read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 209Oedipus weeps for the people's sorrow and his own.read · scan
Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8
- p. 272–275Chorus dwells on woe upon woe, likened to a storm-driven wave.read · scan
- p. 276–281Chorus cannot stay its tears at seeing Antigone.read · scan
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 36–37Great mourning falls on the Egyptians when cats leap into fires.read · scan
Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8
- p. 353–355The chorus mourns Hippolytus' fall, the silenced hunting and music, and hurls hate and scorn at the gods.read · scan
- p. 367Chorus describes national grief at the death of a great man, like the sound of falling waters.read · scan
Plato, PhaedoVol. 2
- p. 112The friends weep uncontrollably at his drinking; Apollodorus cries out; Socrates asks for quiet.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 639–640The Mallas and their families are overwhelmed with grief at news of the Buddha's death, tearing their hair and rolling on the ground.read · scan
- p. 694–695The god is agitated and priests weep at her death.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 197The women weep and groan over Anchises's death and their weary wandering, and are inflamed to rage.read · scan
- p. 210Aeneas leaves the cave sad and full of discontent, and all weep for Misenus.read · scan
- p. 355Aeneas weeps and the mourners beat their breasts over Pallas's wound.read · scan
- p. 355Funeral procession for Pallas: old Acoetes' despair, the weeping war-horse, and Aeneas' restrained grief at the last farewell.read · scan
- p. 355Arcadian town and matrons meet Pallas' body with shrieks and tears; Evander runs to the throng.read · scan
- p. 355Universal mourning of maids, matrons, orphans and fathers; tears and laments.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 287The Romans learn of the victory from the cries and lamentations of those in the town.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 236Xerxes's tears at his army's mortality are called worthy of pardon and praise.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 34–36Hildeburh bewails her son and brother on the pyre in sorrowful dirges.read · scan
- p. 43The Danes' sorrow at finding Æschere's head by the flood.read · scan
- p. 88–91Warriors wail and weep, and an old widow sings her sorrow and fear of days to come.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 17The Jinni's fury and the merchant's and sheykhs' weeping and wailing.read · scan
- p. 87–88Grief at the princess's death: the King tears his beard and clothes, women shriek, and mourning lasts seven days.read · scan
- p. 94Father's grief at the dead youth, swooning, and the young men's ritual self-mortification show sorrow and remorse.read · scan
- p. 225–226The townspeople, even schoolboys and tradesmen, grieve and weep at the condemnation.read · scan
- p. 228–229The crowd weeps for Nur-ed-Din, and Enis-el-Jelis's lamentation moves the Khalifeh.read · scan
- p. 304–305Musa weeps until insensible considering the fates of the people.read · scan
- p. 321The Emir weeps until insensible and is admonished by what he sees.read · scan
- p. 430–431Marjaneh weeps, beats her breast and tears her hair; Kasim's wife mourns with lamentations.read · scan
The Song of RolandVol. 49
- p. 119–121Karl's anguish and the soldiers' tears of pity as they near home.read · scan
- p. 155–156The Franks weep and grieve in fear for Roland; the Emperor rides in wrath.read · scan
- p. 174–175Charlemagne and his knights weep, faint and tear their beards in grief over the slain peers at Roncesvalles.read · scan
- p. 180–182Karl's extravagant grief for Roland: tearing his beard, wishing for death, a hundred thousand Franks weeping.read · scan
- p. 182–184Queen Bramimonde wails and tears her hair over Marsil's wounding and the defeat.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 322–323Brynhild's grief and wailing at losing Sigurd; the household's lamentation and Gudrun's sympathy.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 98–100Widows wash their husbands' wounds with tears and kiss them dead; the kings lament.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 114Arthur weeps and grieves at the knights' departure; Guenever and the ladies mourn so that no tongue can tell it.read · scan
- p. 114–116The departing knights ride through Camelot amid weeping of rich and poor; the king cannot speak for weeping.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 97Mourners keep a marvellous silence and behold the body with pity.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 182–183Laertes' grief over his father's obscure burial without rites cries out for inquiryread · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 416His wife falls into passion and the family weeps to extremity at his agony.read · scan
John Milton, Poems Written at School and at College, 1624-1632Vol. 4
- p. 27Grief and mourning expressed in tears, sorrowing and the wilting flower simile.read · scan
Jane Elliot, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 483Collective grief of women and lasses lamenting their lost lads.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 274–276A weeping country, widow and orphan join in mourning Blair.read · scan
- p. 488–491A bereaved lass's tears and wretchedness after Culloden, and the Highland wife's lament for lost happiness.read · scan
Sir Walter Scott, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 747–749Mourning and wailing for the fallen chief, and sad lay for lovely Rosabelle.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 121Grief spreads contagiously as each person joins the weeping.read · scan
- p. 121The whole household joins the lamentations.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 855–857Repeated summons to weep and lament for Adonais express grief.read · scan
- p. 857–858Mourners are called to weep anew for the lost youngest and dearest son of the muse.read · scan
- p. 859–860Personified Desires, Sorrow, Pleasure and Splendours, along with Morning, Echo and Spring, grieve for Adonais.read · scan
- p. 860–861Grief returns with the revolving year and Albion wails for the poet.read · scan
- p. 861–863Urania's distress and the pleas 'Leave me not!' dramatize grief and sorrow.read · scan
John Greenleaf Whittier, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1359–1360Grief of mothers and wives, scorn turning to pity, and the skipper's remorseful horror.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 432Women howl and cut themselves in mourning for the dead girl.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 986Sir Bedivere weeps remorsefully, and the queens lament the king in an agony of grief.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 38The cry of man overboard thrills every heart, and the crew refuse to acknowledge the loss.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, Abraham LincolnVol. 28
- p. 449Multitudes shed tears at his death; silent sympathy among strangers.read · scan
Walt Whitman, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1412–1413Grief contrasts with public exultation; the speaker cannot believe his father-captain is dead.read · scan
- p. 1413–1414Public grief and mourning shown in dirges, tolling bells, draped cities and silent crowds.read · scan
Ernest Renan, The Poetry of the Celtic RacesVol. 32
- p. 162–163The court wails and laments at the bleeding lance and severed head.read · scan
Sydney Dobell, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1114–1116Refrain of sorrow for the line of Keith.read · scan
Frank Aretas Haskell, The Battle of GettysburgVol. 43
- p. 408Soldiers bury their comrades with scalding tears; rising feelings toward the enemy are softened by recalling their own treatment of Union dead.read · scan
- p. 410–412Strange fascination and solemn feeling as he stands alone among the graves of comrades.read · scan
6f.Feigned and theatrical grief
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 100–101Odysseus hides his face and weeps at the song of Troy, ashamed to show grief before the Phaeacians.read · scan
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 36Pretended grief and forced joy are contrasted with real feeling.read · scan
Aeschylus, The Libation-BearersVol. 8
- p. 106–107Nurse's grief at Orestes' supposed death, and her view that Clytemnestra hides laughter beneath feigned grief.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 249Regulus's mourning is an ostentatious parade of grief, not genuine grief.read · scan
- p. 250Regulus's mourning for his son is theatrical and absurd, provoking laughter rather than compassion.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 160The barber, mistaking beating cries for the youth's murder, shrieks, rends his clothes and casts dust on his head, rousing a crowd.read · scan
- p. 343Feigned weeping, wailing and swooning from grief, which the widow comforts.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 339Camilla's choler and feigned swoon, Leonela's lamentation, and Anselmo's shifting thoughts as he watches.read · scan
- p. 343Lothario turns pale and feigns doleful lamentation and curses to move Anselmo's compassion.read · scan
- p. 509Sancho's comic, tearful lamentation over his supposedly dead master, and the procession's fear of assault.read · scan
Michael Drayton, Agincourt; To the Virginian Voyage; Love's FarewellVol. 40
- p. 228Feigned gladness at parting masks passion; love's last breath personified with faith and innocence at its deathbed.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 74–75Edward's grief and weeping are to be deliberately amplified by his captors.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 100Hamlet insists his grief is real, beyond outward mourning shows, which are merely actions a man might play.read · scan
- p. 138Hamlet is shamed that a player weeps for Hecuba in fiction while he, with real cause, can say nothing.read · scan
- p. 150–151Hamlet's antic merriment masks grief and bitterness over his father's forgotten death.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 345–347Grief, horror and feigned passion at Duncan's murder; Macbeth excuses his killing of the grooms as the outrun of reason by violent love.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 46Cleopatra feigns dying despair, and Antony is moved.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Life of Addison, 1672-1719Vol. 27
- p. 187Cato's grief is judged inconsistent and affected.read · scan
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna von Barnhelm, or The Soldier's FortuneVol. 26
- p. 358–359Minna's feigned tears and Tellheim's confusion and anger.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 602–604Grief and pretended gladness: men wear a face of joy because they were glad of yore.read · scan
Charles Lamb, On the Tragedies of ShakspereVol. 27
- p. 303–304Counterfeit passions are easy tricks of voice and look; audiences recognise only outward symbols, not the grounds of Othello's heroic passion.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1384–1385Grief overwhelms the attempt at gladness and the strings turn to dirge.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1124–1125Sorrow-laden heart, sigh and tear amid apparent joy.read · scan
6g.The pleasure and sweetness of tears
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 15–16Weeping for fictional Dido's death while not weeping for his own spiritual death shows misdirected feeling.read · scan
- p. 49–50Asks why weeping is sweet to the miserable; grief for a lost friend left him wretched, weeping bitterly.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 301–302Musa weeps violently at the verses, moved to grief.read · scan
- p. 317The Emir weeps until senseless at the verses.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 255–256Grief and pity make the tale dear; echoed grief beguiles life's dull pain.read · scan
- p. 330–333Gudrun at last weeps at the sight of Sigurd's corpse; her grief pours out in lament.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 131Frozen tears of the damned, their fury clashing like goats, and Dante's awe at the theme.read · scan
- p. 137Frozen tears intensify anguish because weeping cannot relieve grief.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 268Dante's frozen heart melts into tears at angels' compassionate song.read · scan
Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Life Is a DreamVol. 26
- p. 7Rosaura cites the philosopher's claim that weeping over one's own troubles is a consolation, the 'luxury of woe'.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 316–317He weeps at plays yet bears his own pains; sorrow shared among friends is divided and eased.read · scan
Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to ConquerVol. 18
- p. 231–232Tony dismisses his mother's tears as her comfort, noting women enjoy books that make them cry.read · scan
William Cowper, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 539–541Misery delights to trace its semblance in another's case.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 9Sorrow, yearning and tears overcome the poet as he recalls lost friends and youth.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 265–267Brackenburg's voice falters and eyes fill with tears; Clara feels guilt and unease.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 595A thought of grief is relieved by utterance and joins the joy of the May festival.read · scan
- p. 633–635Localized romance does not unsanctify our tears or make sport of dejection.read · scan
Leigh Hunt, Deaths of Little ChildrenVol. 27
- p. 286Tears run into quiet waters; grief for good persons softens into tenderness and placid memory.read · scan
Edgar Allan Poe, The Poetic PrincipleVol. 28
- p. 376–377Tears at poetry or music spring from impatient sorrow at inability to grasp divine joys.read · scan
- p. 389–391Tennyson's lyric dramatizes idle tears, sadness and regret for days that are no more.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 971–972Tears, grief, regret for vanished days in 'Tears, idle tears' voice unexplained sorrow.read · scan
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