After Love: Romantic Heartbreak, Emotions and Embodiment in Britain c. 1750-1900

We all recognise the excitement, joy, and comfort which accompany romantic love, but what happens when love goes wrong? What follows romantic rejection, infidelity, divorce, or the death of a beloved? The extreme grief of romantic heartbreak is one of the most powerful emotional experiences that human beings endure, one which most of us will experience at some point in our lives. It sits at the centre of the modern mental health crisis, with the breakdown of romantic relationships a key driver of people seeking help from mental health charities, and a leading cause of both homelessness and suicide. Yet for all its ubiquity, how far do we really understand what romantic heartbreak is? And what can history teach us about the most effective ways to heal? The abject misery of a broken heart is more than simply rhetorical - it is a visceral mental and physical experience with very real bodily consequences. Individuals mourning the end of a romantic relationship are liable to high blood pressure, blood clots, and a disturbed heart rhythm. People who have recently lost their partners are more likely to suffer health problems such as heart attacks, with women especially vulnerable to developing takotsubo cardiomyopathy ('broken heart syndrome'), where a surge of stress hormones causes chest pains and shortness of breath. In the weeks and months following bereavement, the 'Widowhood Effect' means that men and women are considerably more likely to die due to the suppression of their immune systems and experience of extreme stress. Yet the distinctive grief which follows the end of romantic relationships is not static or unchanging, but has evolved significantly over the modern era. During the eighteenth century, individuals suffering from a broken heart were vulnerable to low spirits, disturbed nerves, a weakened pulse, and impaired memory. Their grief was likened to cords tightening around the heart, which could be paralysed by their suffering. If their sorrow was especially violent, or continued over a long period of time, patients were thought to be liable to a host of conditions from phthisis to cancer and insanity. During the nineteenth century, the source of our emotions changed, as scientists came to prioritise the brain rather than the heart as the locus of feeling. But feelings still remained firmly corporeal in nature, with violent passions such as love and grief able to tear or stop the heart dead. Just as the experience of romantic heartbreak has changed over time, so have the ways in which we treat it, and the rituals we turn to in order to heal. The project furthers UKRI's strategic goal to improve the nation's health and wellbeing, namely through how we discuss and recover from the grief of a broken heart. This has never been more pressing, given the current mental health emergency exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will establish a new interdisciplinary research network for studying romantic heartbreak, and produce three main outputs: 1. An academic monograph, After Love: Romantic Heartbreak, Emotions and Embodiment in Britain, c. 1750-1900. 2. A group exhibition on 'Broken Hearts & Broken Bodies'. 3. A project website, featuring videos 'in conversation' with experts from the new research network, and digital version of the exhibition. The exhibition will provide the setting for the following public events: 1. An art and crafting project led by the Oxfordshire Mind Wellbeing Service. 2. A programme of talks by experts from the new research network. 3. Artist-led workshops where members of the public create 'body maps' of heartbreak. 4. A pop-up Poetry Pharmacy dispensing poetic remedies for broken hearts. The project will conclude with a cross-disciplinary symposium to provide a critical public forum in which to discuss the mental and physical reality of romantic heartbreak past and present, and the best routes to restoring our health and wellbeing.