Friday, 14 September 2018

Spleen (September)


“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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