Literary notes about Contrive (AI summary)
Literary works employ "contrive" to convey the act of devising or fabricating plans with varying nuance—from ingenious resourcefulness to cunning subterfuge. In Shakespeare’s portrayal of fate’s machinations, the word underscores the idea of destiny manipulated by actions ([1]), while Carlyle uses it to connect heartfelt creation with an inevitable, almost organic, reach into others’ lives ([2]). Authors such as Twain and Brontë illustrate characters contriving new means to navigate daunting challenges ([3], [4]), and Goethe and Casanova highlight its role in escaping dilemmas or orchestrating secretive maneuvers ([5], [6]). Across these works, "contrive" emerges as a multifaceted term that encapsulates creative problem-solving, sometimes laced with artful evasion or even deceit.
- If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayest live; If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.
— from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - If a book come from the heart, it will contrive to reach other hearts; all art and author-craft are of small amount to that.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle - Therefore it followed that I must contrive a new career.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain - He would analyze his own machinations: elaborately contrive plots, and forthwith indulge in explanatory boasts of their skill.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - You will, therefore, permit me to concede your entire argument, and yet contrive means to escape your dilemma.
— from The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - I allayed Therese’s anxiety by telling her that I could easily contrive to leave the city without being observed.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
