Boethius wrote "The Consolation of Philosophy" when he was in prison, awaiting execution for treason in 523 A. D. Like Sir Thomas More later, he also held high office & was convicted on false testimony. The book is an imaginary conversation with Lady Philosophy, who counsels him that happiness is still attainable amidst fickle fortune & that it comes from within.
The same general idea was also taught to Pollyanna by her father & she propagated it in the town where she lived among a wide cross-section of people as the "glad game". Her father, a clergyman, when in the doldrums, found about 800 verses in the Bible, which exhort the people to be "glad & rejoice." The people helped by her in this way to realise that "happiness comes from within" as told by Lady Philosophy to Boethius, rally behind her, when she has to face the prospect of life-long paralysis, due to an accident. However due to a new treatment, the catastrophe is avoided.
Psalm 122 starting "I was glad" was set to music by the British Composer Sir Hubert Parry. It was played during the Coronation of British Monarchs. It was also performed during the Royal Weddings of Charles & Diana and later of William & Kate.
Eleanor Parker wrote a children's classic called "Pollyanna" (1913). The eponymous heroine was also called "The Glad Girl" because even though she had a hard life, her father trained her to find out something to be glad about, however adverse the prevailing circumstances.
After losing her parents early, she comes to live with her unwelcoming aunt. Because of her sunny nature & undeniable charm, she wins over even the grumpy villagers with whom she has to live.
There are two references to the earlier children's classic "Winnie the Pooh". One is Pollyanna & Jimmy Bean, another orphan boy in the village are shown playing the game "Pooh sticks" (the game invented by Winnie) in the 2003 film & Pollyanna's nature is the opposite of the chronically depressed eyesore in "Winnie the Pooh."
She was not a "naïve child, but a gifted individual with an ability to direct her optimism & good nature towards positively influencing the negative, worldly, cynical or disillusioned emotions of the adults that inhabit her life". (quote from Wikipedia)
Her bronze statue was installed in Littleton, New Hampshire) in 2002.
Boethius wrote "The Consolation of Philosophy" when he was in prison, awaiting execution for treason in 523 A. D. Like Sir Thomas More later, he also held high office & was convicted on false testimony. The book is an imaginary conversation with Lady Philosophy, who counsels him that happiness is still attainable amidst fickle fortune & that it comes from within.
