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Literary notes about Disport (AI summary)

In literature, the term "disport" is employed to evoke a sense of carefree or playful activity, often carrying an archaic flavor that enriches the narrative. Authors use it to depict a range of actions—from the light frolic of animals and spirited revelry among people ([1], [2], [3]) to the quiet, reflective enjoyment of leisure or artistic fancy ([4], [5]). Its usage spans both literal and metaphorical domains; it can describe physical movement in a natural setting as well as the imaginative exercises of the mind, as seen in passages where characters or even nature itself is portrayed as disporting freely ([6], [7]). Ultimately, "disport" imbues a text with a rhythmic charm, suggesting both the grace of play and the ease of spontaneous merriment.
  1. He in wantonness ope'd his wide jaws, As a Shark may disport with the Fry; Or a Lion, when licking his paws, May wantonly snap at a Fly.
    — from An Essay on War, in Blank Verse; Honington Green, a Ballad; the Culprit, an Elegy; and Other Poems, on Various Subjects by Nathaniel Bloomfield
  2. Every morning, in the large open-air swimming-bath of the town, a lady of considerable beauty was said to disport herself.
    — from A Company of Tanks by William Henry Lowe Watson
  3. He had 6000 miles of tropical belt to disport himself in, and I did not hear the precise address.
    — from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
  4. Dinner being over, I throw myself at length upon the sand and, basking in the sunshine, let my mind disport itself at will.
    — from Twice-told tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  5. How joyously his mind begins to disport itself again with fancies, the moment he leaves the association, even temporarily!
    — from A Study of Hawthorne by George Parsons Lathrop
  6. It was full of victual, and all manner of mirth and disport.
    — from Joyous Gard by Arthur Christopher Benson
  7. They were with their tutor, and all three had been laughing heartily at the disport of the king and his courtiers.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

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