Literary notes about Carnage (AI summary)
Across literary texts, "carnage" is deployed as a potent symbol of extreme violence and the ruinous aftermath of conflict. In narratives of epic warfare, the term amplifies the gruesome realities of battle, as seen in vivid portrayals from Homer’s ancient verse ([1]) and Virgil’s lamentations ([2]). Its use is not confined to classical epics; authors like Mark Twain and Victor Hugo employ "carnage" to capture both the chaotic energy of physical combat and the broader societal anarchy that ensues ([3], [4]). In political and historical musings, "carnage" serves as a metonym for the devastating impact of revolutionary and civil strife, echoing through descriptions of tumultuous scenes and the profound human suffering they incur ([5], [6]). This layered application underscores the word’s power to evoke both literal and metaphorical devastation in literature.
- The carnage Juno from the skies survey'd, And touch'd with grief bespoke the blue-eyed maid: "Oh, sight accursed!
— from The Iliad by Homer - Whence I to him: "The slaughter and great carnage Which have with crimson stained the Arbia, cause Such orisons in our temple to be made.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - He plunged into the carnage of a hundred battles, but his good Excalibur always brought him out alive, albeit often sorely wounded.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - Madame D. had heroically ventured into this carnage.
— from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo - They will arrest him yet unless he assumes an expression of countenance that shall have less of carnage, insurrection and sedition in it.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - They either fail to execute their commissions, or they do it with all the devastation and carnage of civil war.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison
