Meaning & Analysis
The state of being sorrowful induces a physical sensation of thirst or dryness, compelling a person to drink.
Insights
Emotional Depletion
Sorrow is depicted as an emotionally draining state that leaves an individual feeling empty, barren, and depleted of vitality, much like a landscape devoid of water. The associated 'drinking' symbolizes an attempt to find solace or replenishment for this inner void.
Coping and Anodyne
The proverb serves as a timeless justification for using alcohol or other palliatives to numb emotional pain. The 'dryness' is the discomfort of grief, and 'drinking' is the immediate, albeit temporary, remedy sought to quench it.
Inarticulacy of Grief
'Dryness' can symbolize a state beyond tears, where grief is so profound it stifles outward expression. This internal barrenness creates a metaphorical thirst for release or comfort, which is sought through external means like drinking.
The Consuming Nature of Grief
As intensified by Shakespeare, sorrow is a consuming force that actively drains a person's life force ('drinks our blood'). This suggests that grief is not a passive state but a relentless condition that saps one's energy and spirit.
Cultural Practice and Humoral Theory
The proverb reflects early modern beliefs about the physiological effects of emotions, possibly linked to humoral theory, where melancholy was considered a 'dry' humor. Its frequent use as a justification for drinking, as noted in the 1721 Kelly citation regarding widows, highlights a long-standing cultural association between alcohol and grief management.
Literary Elevation
Shakespeare's poetic intensification in 'Richard II'—'Dry sorrow drinks our blood'—transforms the proverb from a simple observation into a powerful personification. Here, sorrow is not merely a state of being but an active, vampiric force that consumes one's very life essence, illustrating the proverb's adaptability from colloquial justification to profound literary metaphor.
Psychology of Self-Medication
The proverb astutely captures the psychological impulse to use substances to counteract emotional distress. It frames drinking not as a vice but as a perceived necessity to replenish a depleted emotional or spiritual state, revealing an intuitive understanding of self-medication to fill the void left by grief.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The proverb's core power lies in its direct metaphor, equating the abstract emotion of 'sorrow' with the concrete physical sensation of 'dryness,' making a complex internal state immediately relatable.
Aphoristic Brevity
The extreme brevity of the phrase—just three words—gives it the force of an undeniable, self-evident truth, making it a powerful and memorable aphorism.
Personification
In literary contexts, particularly Shakespeare's, 'sorrow' is personified as an active agent that 'drinks,' giving the abstract emotion a tangible and malevolent power.
Transcription
Quotations
I woulde I were now, at Rome, at the sygne of the cuppe For heauynesse is drye. [a1600]
Sorrow, they say, is dry and I find it to be true.
The third [twopence] shall wash our souls at parting, for sorrow is dry.
Sorrow is dry, say we.
Off with thy drink, thou hast a spice of sorrow makes thee dry.
That's scurvy-anger will make me very dry. —You mistake sir, tis sorrow that is very dry.
But sorrow's dry, And I must drink howsoever.
The prouerbe says, Sorrow is dry; So was I at this matter.
(alwaies dry).
(always dry).
A sorrowful Heart is ay dry. *Spoken when Widows or Widowdrs drink liberally, al-ledging it was to quench their Sorrow.
Shakespeare Citations
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale. —And trust me, love, in my eye so do you. Dry sorrow drinks our blood.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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