ABSTRACT
In Elizabeth Browning’s sonnet, we again see the distinction between two primary grief reactions, active distress and passive despair, which was described in the previous chapter. Browning contrasted the ‘shrieking and reproach’ of active grieving which she viewed as aiding recovery, with passive despair, which she saw as a barrier prolonging and setting grief. Active distress and depression are important aspects linking adult human grief with the reactions of animals and young children. But in adults, grief goes beyond the straightforward emotions of separation distress to include thought processes and experiences surrounding these emotions, which in turn transform separation distress into a more complex set of reactions. In addition, adult humans show various ways in which they seek to minimise or avoid the psychological pain of grief. Their sense of self and identity is also profoundly affected by the experience of bereavement, and shows a gradual change throughout the process of grief.
