Date: 1681

"This [sadness] fetters all our Senses, pulleth down / Heav'ns Image, Reason from her rightful Throne / And in her room, by Fancies pow'rful Charm, / Sets up a feigned Ill to work our Harm."

— Chamberlayne, Sir James (c.1640-1699)

Date: 1748

The sorrowing soul is tempestuous

— Pilkington, Laetitia (c. 1709-1750)

Date: 1748

The passions may be at war

— Pilkington, Laetitia (c. 1709-1750)

Date: 1748

The body is a "frail building falling to decay"

— Pilkington, Laetitia (c. 1709-1750)

Date: 1795

"O ye slaves whom Massa beat, / Ye are stained with guilt within / As ye hope for mercy sweet / So forgive your Massas' Sin."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1806

One may possess a great deal of spirit and "sterling merit"

— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)

Date: November 1914

"Sorrow like a ceaseless rain / Beats upon my heart."

— Millay, Edna St. Vincent (1892-1950)

Date: November 1914

"All my thoughts are slow and brown."

— Millay, Edna St. Vincent (1892-1950)