Literary notes about Haplessly (AI summary)
In literature, "haplessly" often serves to underscore a profound sense of fatal misfortune or ineptitude imposed by circumstance. Authors use it to highlight characters or events that, despite any intention to change their fate, inevitably succumb to unfavorable outcomes—as when a character is described as "haplessly trying to get away" [1] or when landscapes "disappeared haplessly into the depths" [2]. Its use in poetic language further amplifies a tone of unintended sorrow or resigned despair, evident in expressions like "haplessly for thee" [3] and "So haplessly I fare!" [4]. Additionally, the word is employed to comment on broader societal or historical conditions, from the meager remnants of Greek lyric fragments [5] to the plight of destitute children left "haplessly thrown on public charity" [6]. Across these contexts, "haplessly" imbues both individuals and environments with an air of tragic inevitability and helplessness.
- He smiled more beamingly upon Lemuel, who felt that he wished him to go, and stood haplessly trying to get away.
— from The Minister's Charge; Or, The Apprenticeship of Lemuel Barker by William Dean Howells - Islands disappeared haplessly into the depths.
— from The Tarn of Eternity by Frank Tymon - Speak: this came By chance—mishap—most haplessly for thee Who hadst my heart in thine, and madest of me
— from Locrine: A Tragedy by Algernon Charles Swinburne - Yet this is all in vain to me, So haplessly I fare!
— from An English Garner: Ingatherings from Our History and Literature (4 of 8) - Then, so far as one can judge from the haplessly scanty fragments of Greek lyrical poetry, the Romantic spirit was strong in that.
— from Greeks & Barbarians by J. A. K. (James Alexander Kerr) Thomson - In either case arises the question as to what is to be done with children who are so haplessly thrown on public charity.
— from Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 702June 9, 1877 by Various
