~\ '.' /~
To
be honest, the research process had been encumbered before Tuesday’s class
ended. No new and strong evidences were found. That was really terrible. My
precedent drafts behaved so weak that it cannot persuade even me. What I have
written is just some thoughtful stuff in my mind. I don’t even make quite clear
on what to argue and the draft was only stated something ambiguous. Since I
began to search the etymology of melancholy, I found it, really found it. It is
explained that melancholy means not only sadness, gloominess, mournfulness, but
also introspection, pensiveness, meditativeness, sentimentality. The deeper or
unknown properties of melancholy are the important points as I thought before.
I felt more confident. Those properties make melancholy different from sadness
and can be argued against.
I
can see there is something interesting on my survey. 100% of the surveyed selected
that “Happiness” was the best way to understand Shelley’s poem, which is
completely opposite with my opinion and anticipation. Why is that? If Shelly wanted
to express one kind of expectation or hope, what was “Winter” used for? Is it
necessary to think out more profound meaning? Maybe we feel difficult in modem
times, we need to think about more happiness.
Because
I changed the direction of my topic, only one of my original annotated
bibliographies can be used for my essay. One point that “Depression is
melancholy, minus its charms” claimed by Susan Sontag
from the annotated bibliography is most shinning source I found by now. It is
inspiring and has a power to overturn our clichés. Melancholy is aesthetic due
to its meditativeness and sentimentality in some sense, I think. If happiness is
the only emotion to pursue, the world could be so dull. I would feel ashamed
and sorry that Adam and Eve ate the wisdom apple.
Though
I have been trying to search more resources that would help on my essay, only a
few found were really valuable that can help me in the exact position. While
among those valuable claims, not every single sentence will be cited. Then a
question or a selection comes out that how I combine them with my own words suitably
into strong and persuasive paragraphs.
Hello Ling,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I am very impressed by your artistic and creative blogs. I loved the grape analogy and the opening to blog #4 I felt the same way about my word tolerance, especially when I created the survey. Even after I wrote my paper I found that my complicating evidence was distracting. I really enjoy your subject of melancholy as a creative force. I 100% agree that it is a creativity the same as jubilation, but it is not always apparent to the outside observer. When it comes to being chosen for just about anything in this life, it seems as though the loudest and most excited person, attracting the most attention is the one that is considered as the best equipped.
When you are looking for a person with deeper thoughts and more creativity it might be the one who is more pensive/introspective that has the hidden store of creative ideas. I do believe though that melancholy can easily slip in and out of depression without a grounding force. For me, that force that keeps me grounded and has introduced me to joy is the ever-expanding relationship I have with Christ, and the guidance He gives.
It may seem odd to say that I have bouts of melancholy, because I do not behave as though I ever have a quiet thought and I am terribly unsentimental. As an adult, I prefer to avoid melancholy like it is a bad flu, but as a child I spent most of my childhood in a very deep depressive state. I wrote poetry and stories from a very early age, and delved into every book I could get my hands on, even reading math textbooks for input. I was not just a friend to books, they were a friend to me.
I was writing poetry and short stories until I was about 14 when a word thief stole my notebooks. I gave it up for the last 35 years other than my writing frenzies in church while I was taking notes. I came back to school last year and found that writing was probably the easiest task (until English 101 when I realized I didn't know anything about writing properly, and it is hard work!).
I would love to read what you found through your research. I would be curious if there is any research about writers and artists that are misdiagnosed as depressed instead of just having a more melancholic type personality.
I have 3 children and all three go through bouts of melancholy, for my son, he is the most artistic. He has natural talent and a great eye, but he gets very stuck with too many ideas and it incapacitates him for days. I think that it takes a lot of personal intuition and self-awareness to be able to get behind melancholy and drive it instead of letting it be the boss and driving you.
I look forward to working with you.
Krystyn