Literary notes about AYE (AI summary)
Across literature, “aye” is frequently deployed as a succinct affirmation that not only signifies agreement but also often conveys character and regional flavor. In works like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island [1, 2, 3, 4] and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden [5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13], “aye” punctuates dialogue with buoyant decisiveness and an undercurrent of nautical or rustic charm, while in the poetry of Robert Burns [14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25] it lends a lyrical quality that emphasizes cultural identity and emotional resonance. Moreover, in classical and dramatic texts such as those by Ben Jonson [26, 27], Plato [28, 29], and Sophocles [30, 31, 32, 33, 34], the term is used with a formal cadence that underscores authority or inevitability. This versatility—from the easygoing “aye, aye” of military or service contexts [35, 36] to the wistful, enduring sense of permanence in romantic or philosophical musings [37, 38, 39, 40]—illustrates how “aye” functions as a compact yet richly textured literary device across genres and eras.
- “Aye, aye, sir,” cried the cook, in the passage.
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - You mind Allardyce, Tom Morgan?” “Aye, aye,” returned Morgan; “I mind him; he owed me money, he did, and took my knife ashore with him.”
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - “Aye, aye, sir
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - “Aye, by gum, I do!”
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson - "Aye, she thinks she would.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - "Aye, that I am!"
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - I’m well —I’m well! ” “Aye, that th’ art!” said Dickon.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - “Aye, there tha’ art!”
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Will you help, Ben Weatherstaff?" "Aye, aye, sir!" said Ben Weatherstaff.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - "Aye, it was that!"
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - “Aye, aye!”
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - [Pg 300] "Aye, aye, sir," he said and he began to stand up quite straight.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - “Aye, that we mun,” she said (which meant “Yes, indeed, we must”).
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - I kiss'd her o'er and o'er again, And aye she wist na what to say: I laid her 'tween me and the wa'; The lassie thocht na lang till day.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - O Aye My Wife She Dang Me Chorus—O aye my wife she dang me,
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - unco easy said aye: The poets, too, a venal gang, Wi' rhymes weel-turn'd an' ready, Wad gar you trow ye ne'er do wrang,
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - It's aye the cheapest lawyer's fee, To taste the barrel.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - Chorus—I'll aye ca' in by yon town, And by yon garden-green again; I'll aye ca' in by yon town, And see my bonie Jean again.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - And clos'd for aye, the sparkling glance That dwalt on me sae kindly!
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - She dresses aye sae clean and neat, Both decent and genteel;
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - But I will aye remember:
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - His honest, sonsie, baws'nt face Aye gat him friends in ilka place; His breast was white, his touzie back Weel clad wi' coat o' glossy black;
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - When thou was corn't, an' I was mellow, We took the road aye like a swallow:
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - And aye she wrought her mammie's wark, And aye she sang sae merrilie; The blythest bird upon the bush Had ne'er a lighter heart than she.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - When first I came to Stewart Kyle, My mind it was na steady; Where'er I gaed, where'er I rade, A mistress still I had aye.
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - In it a much-quoted passage makes Burbage, as a character, declare: "Why here's our fellow Shakespeare puts them all down; aye and Ben Jonson, too.
— from Every Man in His Humor by Ben Jonson - In it a much-quoted passage makes Burbage, as a character, declare: "Why here's our fellow Shakespeare puts them all down; aye and Ben Jonson, too.
— from The Alchemist by Ben Jonson - Aye.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - But they do what they think best? SOCRATES: Aye.
— from Gorgias by Plato - Aye, and two Heralds have sent ere now.
— from Oedipus King of Thebes by Sophocles - Oedipus. Aye me!
— from Oedipus King of Thebes by Sophocles - Aye, and quick, before ... [ The Leader restrains him.
— from Oedipus King of Thebes by Sophocles - Aye, help him quick.—To see him there makes wild
— from Oedipus King of Thebes by Sophocles - Aye, they satisfied All my desire; yet still the cavil gnawed My heart, and still the story crept abroad.
— from Oedipus King of Thebes by Sophocles - "Are they all out, firemen?" "Aye, aye, sir!" "No, they're not!
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - "Aye, aye, sir, all clear!"—"taut leech!
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana - For, of a truth, that which is, is, and, being done, is done for aye, and cannot be altered.
— from She by H. Rider Haggard - my face Henceforth, my love, for aye; So take me in your arms a space Before the east is grey.
— from A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Housman - If I may ne’er behold again That form and face so dear to me, Nor hear thy voice, still would I fain Preserve, for aye, their memory.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - And there, my babe; we'll live for aye.
— from Lyrical Ballads, With a Few Other Poems (1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth
