Literary notes about Importune (AI summary)
The term “importune” in literature is often used to convey a persistent, sometimes overwhelming solicitation or entreaty. In Shakespeare’s works, for instance, it is employed to emphasize a character’s desperate longing or insistence, as when one “importunes death” ([1]) or earnestly petitions the divine ([2], [3]). Authors like Casanova ([4]) and Jane Austen ([5], [6]) utilize the word to illustrate both the gentle and the forceful nature of repeated requests, ranging from tender appeals to situations charged with coercion or weariness ([7], [8], [9]). Across different eras and contexts, “importune” enriches the dialogue by underscoring the intensity—whether heartfelt or harassing—of one character’s persistent demands.
- I am dying, Egypt, dying; only I here importune death awhile, until Of many thousand kisses the poor last I lay upon thy lips.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - God will revenge it; whom I will importune With earnest prayers all to that effect.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Nor need'st thou much importune me to that Whereon this month I have been hammering.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - I have a foolish notion that the chief reason the king loves me is that I do not importune him.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - But I will no longer importune my young cousin."
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - But I will no longer importune my young cousin.”
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - He will certainly never [335] importune you, nor poorly attempt to extort from your pity what he could not win from your love.
— from Self-control: A Novel by Mary Brunton - I reckon to be costly, not them alone which charge the purse, but which are wearisome and importune in suits.
— from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon - The beggar still continued to importune me.
— from Pelham — Complete by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron