“Some words
have surprisingly specific authors. “Spleen” extends, like a suspension bridge,
between the twin piers of Shakespeare and Baudelaire: Shakespeare took it out
of ancient medicine and gave it life as an expression meaning masculine
overcharge (“Quicken’d with youthful spleen and warlike rage”); three centuries
later, Baudelaire gave the word a second life, adding to the original meaning
an overlay of beetle-browed irritation.” (Adam Gopnik, ‘The New Yorker, May 26,
2014) Do they? From the distance of September 2018, doesn’t venting your spleen
mean letting out your anger, frequently at someone other than the person who is
the cause?
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