ABSTRACT
This chapter is offered as an exercise in formulating a usable taxonomy of words to describe emotions in early modern English, organized according to the contemporary function of such words. It is by no means intended as a hard-and-fast classificatory system (indeed, to compile such a one would be a frustrating and perhaps futile task, since context always plays a major part in semantics), but at least it may begin a discussion. As this volume suggests, part of the context would be the profession and purposes of those using the words, with different shades of meanings between theologians, physicians, philosophers, lawyers, and others. My examples come mainly from literature and drama, from a conviction that early modern imaginative writers, steeped in humanist training, used language with great precision, knowledge of etymologies and classical rhetoric, and a special eye to visual, metaphorical, and emotive effects. This is especially true of Spenser, the various translators of different versions of the Bible, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Milton, and later Samuel Johnson, who compiled the first great English dictionary. Since writers, especially dramatists, portray personages expressing their feelings strongly in situations in which emotions are stirred within a narrative and conveyed to readers or audiences, their vocabulary is embedded in revealing, particularized contexts. Unlike early modern theologians, philosophers, physicians, and other specialist writers, creative authors write with an eye to a general readership and heterogeneous, English-speaking theatre audiences.
