Literary notes about Convulsive (AI summary)
The term "convulsive" is deployed in literature as a dynamic indicator of sudden, uncontrolled, and often forceful movements—whether physical or emotional. In works such as [1] and [2], it is used to depict spasmodic physical reactions that are both jarring and unsettling, while in texts like [3] and [4] it captures the raw intensity of emotional outbursts, as characters are overwhelmed by sobs or tremors. Authors also employ the term to suggest abrupt shifts in a character's inner state, as seen in the tension-filled moments of [5] and [6]. Thus, "convulsive" serves to heighten the dramatic atmosphere by vividly conveying both tangible physical spasms and the tumultuous stirrings of the human spirit.
- The spider made a convulsive gripe with his limbs and hung dead across the window.
— from Mosses from an old manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Perhaps the torpid slumber was broken by a convulsive pain.
— from Mosses from an old manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Her voice was choked with convulsive sobs, and scalding tears fell in torrents from her eyes over my hands.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie - Her tears were concealed, but St. Aubert heard her convulsive sobs.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe - Europe adjusts itself to a fait accompli , and so does an individual character—until the placid adjustment is disturbed by a convulsive retribution.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot - The young man overwhelmed by the weight of his anguish, fell heavily on his knees before the bed, which his fingers grasped with convulsive energy.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
