LANGUAGE AND THE EMOTIONS. 195 



dency to egoism. Joy has less need of sj'mpathy : the happy are apt 

 to be self-suflScient. He can aiFord to share some of his pain with his 

 brethren ; but joy is a matter much in demand, and he cannot well 

 spare a particle of it — that, unless it can be increased by division, is 

 devoured alone. 



And, finally, there are fewer expressions of joy, because contentment 

 is essentially a unit, is one, or at least is so in its perfect state, toward 

 which we strive. There is a homely German saying, " Satter wie satt 

 kann man nicht werden." Satiety is the one point, and all that is 

 above or below this point is not enjoyable. When we are contented 

 we have arrived at the normal state of existence ; there is no other way 

 of expressing it, for it is unique, and cannot be split into various shad- 

 ings. And we are generally driven to express different shadings of 

 joy by the physical concomitants of that feeling, as elation, thrilling, 

 etc. It is the one positive point.^ 



All these causes will evidently influence lyric poetry, the musically- 

 poetical expression of emotions. It is very difficult to say more than 

 that we are happy, while we may tell many things of our peculiar feel- 

 ings of misfortune. And we are not inclined to show our smiling face 

 without hope of having it reciprocated ; while we may fail to repro- 

 duce in our readers the sad mood which drove us to write a sad poem 

 and still not feel ridiculous. The measured tone of sad words and their 

 context is more adapted to musical rhythm than the rapid, short ex- 

 pressions of mirth. As in sculpture the woful expression is more 

 plastical than the joyful, so in poetry the sad strives toward harmonious 

 form more readily than the happy, and therefore we shall have fewer 

 poems expressive of joy than of sorrow. 



But to return to the main topic : The greatest distinction between 

 the German and English language is perceived when we compare the 

 expressions of the bright side of emotions. Let us again attempt an 

 incomplete enumeration, omitting the numerous foreign words adopted 

 into the German language, as well as the compounds which express so 

 definitely certain fine shadings : Entzticken, Ergotzen, Tubel, Wonne, 

 Seligkeit, Glilckseligkeit, Freude, Freudigkeit, Gliick, Lust, Vergntignen, 

 Frohsinn, Frohmuth, Heiterkeit, Munterkeit, Scherzhaftigkeit, Ausge- 



' I hold, in opposition to the pessimists, that this fact of the poverty of expressions 

 of pleasure as contrasted with the multiplicity of expressions of pain goes to prove the 

 positive nature of pleasure. The pessimists hold that pain is positive and pleasure nega- 

 tive, i. e., that pleasure is the absence of pain ; the intermissions in the long chain of 

 bodily and mental pains are to them pleasure. In logic the positive thing is definite and 

 one, while the negative is indefinite and multiple. So "A" would be positive, definite, 

 and would denote one thing ; while " Not A " is negative, indefinite, in fact, denotes any- 

 thing or all things in the universe excepting " A." Therefore, when the pessimist points 

 to the wealth of expression in pain, and to the poverty in expressions of pleasure, and 

 when he points to the difficulty of defining contentment, while pain comprises so many 

 states, he has not disproved the positive nature of pleasure. On the contrary, we find 

 that the simpler and more positive a fact is, the more difficult is it to define, until we are 

 limited to the mere mention of the fact. 



