Literary notes about GNARLED (AI summary)
The term “gnarled” is widely used in literature to evoke images of age, weathered form, and the rugged interplay of nature and character. Authors often apply it to describe ancient, twisted trees whose contorted limbs and rugged bark mirror the passage of time—as seen in the depiction of sturdy oaks and twisted pines in examples [1], [2], and [3]—while it also extends metaphorically to human figures, imbuing them with a sense of enduring, almost natural wear. In works like Stephen Crane’s portrayal of an old woman ([4], [5], [6]) and Helen Keller’s depiction of individuals “bent out of shape” ([7]), “gnarled” conveys a dual image of physical decay and life’s accumulated hardship. This diverse usage—from describing literal tree trunks ([8], [9]) to symbolizing the marks of age and experience in people—demonstrates the word’s potent ability to bridge the natural and the human world within literary narratives.
- From it, one looks across a smaller lake, banked with gnarled and twisted limber pines, to the superb mountain scenery in every direction.
— from Glacier National Park [Montana] by United States. Department of the Interior - He called her his dryad, she said, and the tree his tree; for the grand old oak, with its gnarled trunk, was just to his taste.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - Two of the stoutest of them were clothed in Lincoln green, and a great heavy oaken staff leaned against the gnarled oak tree trunk beside each fellow.
— from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle - On the second floor she met the gnarled old woman who possessed the music box.
— from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane - He passed with great caution the door of the gnarled woman, and finally stopped outside his home and listened.
— from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane - The old woman was a gnarled and leathery personage who could don, at will, an expression of great virtue.
— from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane - There are men and women, too, all gnarled and bent out of shape.
— from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller - And what trees do not by neglect become gnarled and unfruitful, whereas by pruning they become fruitful and productive?
— from Plutarch's Morals by Plutarch - With the flung stones and with the ponderous heft Of gnarled branch.
— from On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus
