Nonsense

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was responsible for the following:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

The last two lines are frequently quoted AT people in my unfortunate position - and in this sense it is of course bathos -  rubbish, unless one is one of those irritatingly positive "more fish in the sea" types.  Those of course have not loved - not in my understanding of the word, otherwise they would not utter such platitudinous crap.

Tennyson was of course writing in connexion with loss via death, another matter altogether, and naturally read in that light his rather nice lines are not bathetic.

To lose a lover through death is horrible of course - and final.  

To lose a lover whom one knows to be alive, active, occupied and even perhaps thinking is arguably worse.

Please discuss,

Until the next time - if there is one.