To many of the world's inhabitants, the world "affliction" was not in existence until the opening of Nick Nolte's 1999 film of the same name. The idea behind affliction, a word that stresses pain, suffering, and distress, has been occurring since emotions were first able to be perceived. Nearly every class of literature displays some form of affliction. Literature scholars often employ the works of English authors in the seventeenth century to demonstrate different uses of affliction. Whether it is the emblematic poetry of Metaphysical George Herbert, the sorrowful and endearing eulogi…
