Literary notes about Drop (AI summary)
The word “drop” in literature is a remarkably versatile device, employed to invoke both literal and figurative effects. Often it denotes a physical quantity—as in the stark absence of a single drop of rain illuminating a drought [1] or the gentle fall of sunlight that seems to quiver in a woman’s hand [2]—yet it also serves as a metaphor for the smallest measure of emotion or change. A tear dropping over a grave can evoke deep mourning [3] while a subject casually dropped in conversation may signal a shift in tone or resolution [4]. In other passages, “drop” marks the sudden descent of characters from precarious heights [5] or the deliberate abandonment of an idea [6], illustrating how its diverse meanings enrich narrative texture and underscore moments of transformation.
- “There are whole years when not a drop of rain falls on Walpole,” I said, too amazed to laugh.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - A drop of sunlight fell into her hands and lay there, warm and quivering.
— from Bliss, and other stories by Katherine Mansfield - Drop upon Fox’s grave the tear, ’Twill trickle to his rival’s bier; O’er Pitt’s the mournful requiem sound,
— from Marmion: A Tale Of Flodden Field by Walter Scott - Let him shape the conversation to suit himself—let him drop it or change it whenever he wants to.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain - He had remained on that three-foot path, with sheer wall on one side and sheer drop on the other, until his enemy had overtaken him.
— from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - “This is a matter I thought we had agreed to drop.”
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
