Literary notes about Adulation (AI summary)
Literary usage of the term adulation reveals a spectrum of meanings ranging from sincere, yet excessive, praise to strategic, nearly obsequious flattery. Often, it portrays a dynamic in which admiration overwhelms reason, as in passages that describe unmerited veneration lavished on revered texts [1] or political figures who amass power through slavish deferment [2]. In other narratives, adulation becomes an instrument of courtly behavior and calculated homage, subtly critiquing the simultaneous elevation and manipulation inherent in social and artistic exchanges [3].
- H2 anchor THE BOOK OF BOOKS Floods of sincere, but unmerited, adulation have been lavished on the Hebrew Bible.
— from God and My Neighbour by Robert Blatchford - For my part, I am persuaded that in all governments, whatever their nature may be, servility will cower to force, and adulation will cling to power.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville - To magnify her greatness, the humility of courtly adulation merged in the ecstasies of Platonic love.
— from The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 17, No. 483, April 2, 1831 by Various
