Tragedy delights by affording a shadow of the pleasure which exists in pain.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Tragedy is enjoyable because it lets us feel pleasure mixed with pain.
- In plain terms
- We enjoy sad stories because pain can feel good in art.
- What can you take from it?
- Art finds pleasure in the experience of pain.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why do we enjoy sad stories?
- Can pain be pleasurable?
Another view
Not all audiences find pleasure in pain or tragedy.
More from Percy Bysshe Shelley
Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.
Permalink to quote #164 Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.
Permalink to quote #166 Revenge is the naked idol of the worship of a semi-barbarous age.
Permalink to quote #163
Related quotes
Le sujet d'une belle tragedie doit n'etre pas vraisemblable.
Pierre CorneillePierre Corneille quote #3 What has pleased, and continues to please, is likely to please again: hence are derived the rules of art, and on this immoveable foundation they must ever stan…
Joshua ReynoldsJoshua Reynolds quote #13 Poetry - No definition of poetry is adequate unless it be poetry itself. The most accurate analysis by the rarest wisdom is yet insufficient, and the poet will…
Henry David ThoreauHenry David Thoreau quote #17