Way Back When...

 In the beginning of the discovery to melancholy, not much was known. But of course, we all have to start somewhere. Conspicuously enough, melancholy started as a simple word that held negative meaning. Throughout it's course of discovery, the definition was reshaped, tweaked, and allowed different perspectives from people in civilizations. I thought it was very interesting to compare a snail to a patient suffering from melancholy in the PubMed Central article. A notable researcher, Burton, later explains that the melancholic patients may have symptoms (alluding to the idea of being a diagnosable illness) that could be a never-ending cycle dragging itself on. Of course, medical advances for treatments have not been discovered nor thought through in their entirety during this time but it was still head tilting. Pinel, another notable researcher, had mentioned a heightened ideology of the never-ending cycle too. Additionally, the definition evolved while also suffering with ups and downs of diagnosis, origin theories, and treatments leaving this topic readily unknown in terms of what it truly is. Going with the idea of suffering, the additional article explained sadness as a sin instead of a feeling alluding to the religious approaches aside from medical. Although depression was mentioned, other possibilities of melancholy were examined such as the Four Humours. The Anatomy of Melancholy ideas are interesting due to the thought of being a mental process with a twist "was the fullest flowering of the humoural view of melancholy" making it universal. Going back to more ideas, Burton mentioned the sickness and its restrictions in which had gone into great detail - specifically the air. Bad, thin, foggy, misty, dark, and air from fens were mentioned. We as people cannot escape or control the weather happening in our environment so although this was something to stay away from, how could you? I feel this is yet another connection to this "never-ending" perspective about melancholy. Overall, the approach was interesting to dive into, eye opening in seeing how far we've come in medical advancements, but also perspective. Attached is a picture I felt Burton was describing when going in depth about diagnostics, symptoms, reasonings, origin, and information. 


Monsters in Black and White - Trevin Wyant 

https://www.behance.net/gallery/44011709/Monsters-In-Black-White 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inevitable Innovation

Image
 T.S. Eliot was a writer who dove deep into the questioning of modern thoughts versus traditional doings of which are normally societal as all came with innovation around the world. The Love Song of J. Alfred   references the complex and fast-changing society he is within. Additionally, technologies, movements, ideas, and structure all around are changing faster than one single person can keep up with. Some phrases in the poem are relatively cut short. This technique of bits and pieces ties back into the quick paced society allowing the reader to be fully within the feeling the poem is conveying instead of just a read.  The poem explains emotion and feeling anxiety and interaction in lieu of the pursuit of personal desires. Hysteria references the behavior of such and how the line between sanity and madness can be a bit blurred. Likely enough, sometimes these can be blended together leaving rigidity and defining features to drift into the distances. With that being said,...
Read more

Knock Down and Rebuild

Image
 Sylvia Plath, the writer well known for her deeply personal and striking themed pieces caught fire across the world for effortlessly yet intentionally drawing close vivid images to real occurring struggles in the mind of many. Initially, Plath was intrigued and inspired by multiple other poets such as Virginia Woolf and Emily Dickinson but experimented with multiple techniques until she found her own that allows her poetry to "escape ordinary analysis".  She wrote and published a series titled Ariel , consisting of multiple poems within the realm of mental health with focuses in illness, suicide, and oppression of which was conveyed through a unique style. Ariel is "a unique book..., cold gust of reality as though somebody had knocked out a window pane on a brilliant night" as Robert Penn Warren refers to it as. Lady Lazarus  has a great plethora of metaphors encompassing her perspective and experience with suicide. Her life is similar to a cat with nine lives all...
Read more

Wheatley's Imagination

Image
 Phillis Wheatley, a poet from West Africa, had a story that transposed into her writing allowing her to become the first African-American woman in London to have a book of poetry published. Her backstory consists of growing up in West Africa and by the age of seven, she had been moved to Boston due to slavery, working for a man of the name of John Wheatley. He was wealthy but soon realized Phillis' capabilities including her wide range of intellect. With this now coming to the surface, education was in Phillis' path of life. At a young age, Wheatley was creative and driven by writing as she found joy in the activity. Her hobby soon became her life and she became a publisher of her own work to share with the world. After publishing, Wheatley became praised and recognized for her work. Her stories, messages, and connections reached more than she could have dreamed, such like George Washington. her poems often related back to her life with one being, On Imagination . It describes...
Read more