Editing Sadness (section)

== Cultural explorations ==
[[File:Wilhelm Amberg In Gedanken versunken.jpg|thumbnail|Lost in thoughts, by [[Wilhelm Amberg]]. An individual experiencing sadness may become quiet or lethargic, and withdraw themselves from others. ]]

During the Renaissance, [[Edmund Spenser]] in ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' endorsed sadness as a marker of spiritual commitment.<ref>{{cite book |last=Trevor |first=Douglas |date=30 September 2004 |title=The Poetics of Melancholy in Early Modern England |series=Cambridge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture |location=United Kingdom |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=48 |isbn=9780521834698 |author-link=Douglas Trevor }}</ref>

In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', sadness is distinguished from unhappiness,<ref>{{cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J.R.R. |date=1991 |title=The Lord of the Rings |location=London, United Kingdom |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |page=475 |isbn=9780261102309 |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |title-link=The Lord of the Rings }}</ref> to exemplify [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s preference for a sad, but settled determination, as opposed to what he saw as the shallower temptations of either [[despair]] or [[hope]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sippey |first=Tom A. |date=1992 |title=The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology |location=London, United Kingdom |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |page=143 |isbn=9780261102750 |author-link=Tom Shippey }}</ref>

[[Julia Kristeva]] considered that "a diversification of moods, variety in sadness, refinement in [[Sorrow (emotion)|sorrow]] or mourning are the imprint of a humanity that is surely not triumphant but subtle, ready to fight and creative".<ref>{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=Adam |date=1994 |title=On Flirtation |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674634404 |location=London, United Kingdom |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |page=87 |isbn=9780674634404 |author-link=Adam Phillips (psychologist) |access-date=2018-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621171039/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674634404 |archive-date=2018-06-21 |url-status=live }}</ref>