Literary notes about Freshness (AI summary)
The term "freshness" is used in literature to evoke both tangible sensations and deeper symbolic resonances of renewal, vibrancy, and originality. Often, it describes the invigorating quality of early mornings—a literal crispness and dewiness that revitalizes the senses (e.g., the sharp freshness noted by Chekhov [1] or the dewy, unspoiled air observed by Wells [2, 3]). At the same time, authors employ "freshness" to signify rejuvenation and the emergence of untarnished beauty or ideas, as when Homer speaks of a restoration by ambrosial dews [4] or when Maupassant captures a woman's confident, renewed self-assurance [5]. In other contexts, the word extends into the metaphorical, representing originality and creative spark—from the vivid freshness of Poe’s imagination [6, 7] to subtle critiques of stale routine that lack such vitality [8]. Thus, across various texts, "freshness" serves as a versatile device that bridges the physical allure of nature with abstract notions of purity and innovation.
- The iron slabs, the tombstones and the buds on the trees were covered with dew There was a sharp freshness in the air.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - The freshness of the morning made me desire an equal freshness.
— from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells - “I sat up in the freshness of the morning, trying to remember how I had got there, and why I had such a profound sense of desertion and despair.
— from The Time Machine by H. G. Wells - And with perfumes of sweet ambrosial dews Restores his freshness, and his form renews.
— from The Iliad by Homer - She had that quiet assurance of a woman who is sure of herself, who feels that on awaking she is in her full beauty and freshness.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - the vivid freshness of his imagination.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe - the vivid freshness of his imagination.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - But the phrase is also used to mean ruts, routine ways, with loss of freshness, open-mindedness, and originality.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey