Literary notes about Conceal (AI summary)
Conceal is employed in literature as a versatile tool to suggest both physical hiding and the deeper suppression of emotions, secrets, or truths. Some works use it literally—as when a smoke of charcoal helps to conceal the presence of a brazier ([1]) or characters hide themselves from danger ([2])—while others deploy it metaphorically to convey the act of masking feelings or one’s inner self—the struggle to conceal one’s agitation or secrets ([3], [4]). At times, concealment serves as a dramatic device to heighten suspense and mystery, urging readers to detect what lies beneath the surface, whether it be the betrayal of hidden conspiracies ([5]) or the careful management of personal identity ([6]). This multifaceted usage underscores conceal’s power in enriching narrative complexity across a wide spectrum of literary traditions ([7], [8]).
- A breath of air which made its way in through the open pane, helped to dissipate the smell of the charcoal and to conceal the presence of the brazier.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - He hides his children in (or upon) a pillar, hoping to conceal them from a devouring bear, whose fur is of iron.
— from Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore - I could not help showing that I was a little moved, though I did all I could to conceal it.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - Conceal the unhappy truth as long as it is possible.—I know it cannot be long."
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - And what says My conceal’d lady to our cancell’d love? NURSE.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - I am compelled to conceal how little confidence I feel in myself in order not to lessen the good opinion his eminence is pleased to entertain of me.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - For they do not conceal themselves, and cannot conceal themselves.
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman - Why are they lying, and what is the truth which they are trying so hard to conceal?
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
