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Literary notes about Comprehend (AI summary)

The word "comprehend" in literature frequently conveys both the act of understanding and the limits of that understanding. Authors use it to describe moments when a character or narrator grasps complex ideas or emotions—sometimes with a profound sense of realization, as when a person begins to appreciate the depth of symbolic meaning [1] or the moral order of nature [2]. In other instances, it highlights the struggle or failure to fully grasp the enormity of concepts or circumstances, such as an inability to appreciate another's greatness [3] or to take in an unexpected change in life [4]. Moreover, its use spans diverse contexts—from practical recognition of details in political distinctions [5] to illustrating the human mind’s efforts to synthesize knowledge [6]—revealing its versatility as a literary tool that bridges the tangible and the abstract [7, 8].
  1. So far, then, we are able to comprehend the true symbolism of the Winding Stairs.
    — from The symbolism of Freemasonry : by Albert Gallatin Mackey
  2. There is also nature; as by nature we comprehend what is just and good.
    — from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius
  3. It required but a short time, however, for the great editor to feel her power, although he failed to fully comprehend her greatness.
    — from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I
  4. It gave her time to comprehend the sudden change which had taken place in her circumstances within the last two months.
    — from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
  5. "I can scarcely comprehend the nice distinctions and shades of political parties in your State," observed Mr. Waddill.
    — from Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
  6. We comprehend a thing when we synthetize it by identity with another thing.
    — from The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James
  7. By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; by thought I comprehend the world.
    — from Pascal's Pensées by Blaise Pascal
  8. That we ought not to seek to comprehend the infinite ages of time before the world, nor the infinite realms of space.
    — from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine

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