Literary notes about Curmudgeon (AI summary)
In literature, the term "curmudgeon" has often been employed to evoke a vivid caricature of a disagreeable, cantankerous figure, usually an older man. In Wirt Sikes’s work, for example, the "old curmudgeon of a money-hoarder" [1] vividly illustrates a miserly, irascible character entrenched in his ways, while Henry Fielding reinterprets the figure humorously by imagining a defiant act—dancing over the grave of such a personality—in a stark contrast to the norm [2]. Additionally, the descriptor "sanctimonious old curmudgeon" in The Gilded Age further cements the image of an irritable, self-righteous individual steeped in cynicism [3]. Together, these examples highlight how the term has been adapted in various contexts to both criticize and satirize the archetypal grouchy elder.
- There was an old curmudgeon of a money-hoarder who lived in a cottage on the side of the cwm, or dingle, at St. Donat’s, not far from the Castle.
— from British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions by Wirt Sikes - No, I'll buy the gayest gown I can get, and dance over the old curmudgeon's grave in it.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding - the sanctimonious old curmudgeon.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
