Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy
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Eric Cullhed
Abstract
Nearly all cultures and eras have produced poems in which the speaker asks about the fate of past glories lost to time. This chapter seeks to define the core affective experience of such ubi sunt compositions, arguing that they prominently evoke poignancy - a family of emotions that respond not to transience itself, but to the perceived value of things in light of their impermanence. There are at least four subcategories of poignancy: poignancy of the present, for fading goodness; nostalgic poignancy, for past goodness; wistful poignancy, for unfulfilled potential; and existential poignancy, which acknowledges the transient yet partially good nature of existence. These emotions belong to a specific class of mixed emotions, where the positive aspects of an object are proportional to its negative aspects. The chapter further advocates for more experimental research using structured and varied mortality salience manipulations to better understand the subpersonal effects of poignancy.
Abstract
Nearly all cultures and eras have produced poems in which the speaker asks about the fate of past glories lost to time. This chapter seeks to define the core affective experience of such ubi sunt compositions, arguing that they prominently evoke poignancy - a family of emotions that respond not to transience itself, but to the perceived value of things in light of their impermanence. There are at least four subcategories of poignancy: poignancy of the present, for fading goodness; nostalgic poignancy, for past goodness; wistful poignancy, for unfulfilled potential; and existential poignancy, which acknowledges the transient yet partially good nature of existence. These emotions belong to a specific class of mixed emotions, where the positive aspects of an object are proportional to its negative aspects. The chapter further advocates for more experimental research using structured and varied mortality salience manipulations to better understand the subpersonal effects of poignancy.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XI
- Introduction 1
- Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology 29
- Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain 45
- Mixed Emotions and the Climate Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 63
- Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy 79
- Being of Two Minds in Eleventh-Century China: Affective Bimodality in Guo Xi and Su Shi 97
- Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology 115
- Odi et Amo: On Some Ancient Readings of Mixed Affect in Catullus 135
- Bittersweet History: Cicero on Mixed Affect in Experiencing Literature 155
- Ambivalent Feelings towards the Lupercalia: Discussing Civilisation in Republican and Early Imperial Rome 171
- Bibliography 187
- List of Contributors 205
- Index 207
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements VII
- Contents IX
- List of Figures XI
- Introduction 1
- Ambivalent Affects in Experimental Psychology 29
- Mixed Emotions in Emotion Communication: A Chimera in my Brain 45
- Mixed Emotions and the Climate Crisis in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction 63
- Ubi sunt? On the Varieties and Mixed Pleasures of Poignancy 79
- Being of Two Minds in Eleventh-Century China: Affective Bimodality in Guo Xi and Su Shi 97
- Explaining (Away?) Conflicting Emotions: A View from Sanskrit Aesthetic Phenomenology 115
- Odi et Amo: On Some Ancient Readings of Mixed Affect in Catullus 135
- Bittersweet History: Cicero on Mixed Affect in Experiencing Literature 155
- Ambivalent Feelings towards the Lupercalia: Discussing Civilisation in Republican and Early Imperial Rome 171
- Bibliography 187
- List of Contributors 205
- Index 207
