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Literary notes about Disentangle (AI summary)

The word “disentangle” is used in literature both in its literal sense—depicting the physical act of untwisting or freeing—and in a more metaphorical way, where it symbolizes the unraveling of complex ideas, emotions, or social constructs. For instance, in works like The Secret Garden ([1], [2]) and Chekhov’s stories ([3]), the term describes tangible actions such as removing physical coverings or a scarf. In contrast, authors like Augustine ([4]), Smollett ([5]), Tagore ([6]), and Wells ([7]) employ it to illustrate more abstract and often painful processes of separating convoluted circumstances or internal states. Moreover, the word is extended into the realm of intellectual exploration in texts by Carlyle ([8]), Dewey ([9]), and even Plato ([10], [11]), in which “disentangle” serves as a metaphor for clarifying intricate arguments or deconstructing multifaceted ideas. This broad application underscores the word’s versatility in capturing both the physical and conceptual challenges of untangling what is intertwined.
  1. he shouted to Dickon, and he actually began to tear the coverings off his lower limbs and disentangle himself.
    — from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  2. he shouted to Dickon, and he actually began to tear the coverings off his lower limbs and disentangle himself.
    — from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  3. The man of learning dashes up to the amanuensis again and helps him to disentangle his scarf.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  4. Who can disentangle that twisted and intricate knottiness?
    — from The Confessions of St. Augustine by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine
  5. Notwithstanding these accumulated oppressions, he still persevered with fortitude in his endeavours to disentangle himself from this maze of misery.
    — from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. Smollett
  6. In the midst of all fears I had a secret wish in my heart to be drowned, and so disentangle my life from the knot which I had tied it.
    — from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore
  7. I find it a little difficult to disentangle the causes that have restricted the flow of these inventions.
    — from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells
  8. Odin's creed, if we disentangle the real kernel of it, is true to this hour.
    — from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle
  9. It remains to disentangle them from the context in which they have been referred to, and discuss explicitly their nature.
    — from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey
  10. He cannot disentangle the arts from the virtues—at least he is always arguing from one to the other.
    — from The Republic of Plato by Plato
  11. He cannot disentangle the arts from the virtues—at least he is always arguing from one to the other.
    — from The Republic by Plato

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