Oh grief, why hast thou so much pow'r

Title:

On Grief

Primary Texts:

MS's: F-H 283, 8*; Folger 32

Secondary Eds:

1903 Reynolds reprints Folger text, 18; rpts of Reynolds: 1930 Fausset, 9-10; 1979 Rogers, 25.

Comment:

Effective song; set by court musician of the period (Estwick). it is also a brilliant statement about how depression is experienced as a knot of deep grief which one cannot get over, one so rooted in the being there's no getting rid of it. The poem should be seen as anticipating "Ardelia to Melancholy" and "The Spleen".
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