Sentiment analysis is here applied to narratives considered to be essentially descriptive of facts (which include actions around either the discovery of those facts), actions related to experiences of a chemist, and narratives with a more poetic or creative character. A continuum is envisaged between Western pragmatism on the one hand – most obviously shown in descriptive narratives – and Eastern mysticism on the other – most obviously shown in poetic works, with action narratives occupying a position between or even overlapping with these end-points. Such a continuum suggests that Western and Eastern thought may not necessarily be as independent from each other as has been often portrayed.