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Literary notes about Bitterness (AI summary)

Writers employ "bitterness" as a multifaceted metaphor to evoke deep emotional pain, moral disillusionment, and even physical sensation. It often connotes a residual ache from personal or collective suffering, as seen in the raw confession of distrust and despair in religious contexts [1] or in reflections that mix sorrow with an almost tangible taste of remorse [2]. At times, the term underscores a character's inner conflict or betrayal, imbuing narratives with a sense of persistent grievance [3][4]. In other instances, bitterness contrasts with sweetness—a duality that highlights the complexity of human emotion, whether in the realm of romance or philosophical introspection [5][6]. Ultimately, the word serves as a potent symbol that deepens character portrayal and reinforces themes of loss, regret, and the enduring sting of memory [7][8].
  1. “I an’t a Christian like you, Eliza; my heart’s full of bitterness; I can’t trust in God.
    — from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
  2. CHAPTER XXII October 5th.—My cup of sweets is not unmingled: it is dashed with a bitterness that I cannot hide from myself, disguise it as I will.
    — from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
  3. 350.—Why we hate with so much bitterness those who deceive us is because they think themselves more clever than we are.
    — from Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims by François duc de La Rochefoucauld
  4. I had parted with the worst bitterness of the past, but not with my heart's remembrance of the sorrow and the tenderness of that memorable time.
    — from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
  5. Her honey was no less than her gall, and Nabendu's mind tasted at once the sweetness of the one and the bitterness of the other.
    — from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore
  6. Say that you love me not; but say not so In bitterness.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  7. I have laughed, in bitterness and agony of heart, at the contrast between what I seem and what I am!
    — from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  8. What is the destiny of man, but to fill up the measure of his sufferings, and to drink his allotted cup of bitterness?
    — from German Fiction by Gottfried Keller

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