Literary notes about Excitement (AI summary)
The term "excitement" is employed in literature to capture both the physiological and emotional intensity of a moment, ranging from nervous anticipation to overwhelming ecstasy. In some works, it manifests as a palpable energy that heightens tension and propels action, as seen in narratives where it causes trembling or flushed cheeks ([1], [2], [3]). Other texts explore its ambiguous nature, where excitement intertwines with fear, desire, or anxiety, thus deepening character portrayals and thematic complexity ([4], [5]). Additionally, it is used to describe collective states of fervor and social unrest, emphasizing its role as a catalyst in both personal and public realms ([6], [7], [8]). This versatile usage reveals how excitement can simultaneously serve as a physical reaction and a metaphor for the ever-changing impulses of human life ([9], [10]).
- No one, however, stirred, and it was quite evident that the whole party were wound up to the highest pitch of nervous excitement.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - A young man, pale and trembling with excitement, repeated: "I am sure of it!" "Sure of what?" asked Mifroid.
— from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - The old man sprang to his feet and his voice shook with excitement.
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson - I felt a thrill at my heart—I cannot say whether the excitement was due to fear or delight or curiosity.
— from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore - He felt a nervous excitement that might have been the very throb of its slow heart.
— from This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald - In the winter of 1852-53, there was great excitement on the Temperance question in this country, originating in Maine and spreading West.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - The affair caused great excitement, and Gay Street was thronged with thousands of people.
— from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain - One journal had a long dispatch from Hawkeye, reporting the excitement in that quiet village and the reception of the awful intelligence.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner - From the excitement of pleasure, the circulation becomes more rapid; the eyes are bright, and the colour of the face rises.
— from The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin - Other conceptions, such as sexual excitement and satisfaction, require no elucidation.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
