Literary notes about Infernal (AI summary)
The adjective "infernal" in literature is a versatile term that evokes sensations of hellish dread, chaotic turmoil, or even absurd frustration. Writers employ it to describe everything from literal underworld settings—invoking images of torture and damnation as seen in descriptions of infernal regions [1]—to metaphorical applications that intensify the emotion of an experience, whether it be the outrage over a disastrous expedition [2] or the annoyance at unruly noise [3]. By linking the supernatural with the everyday, authors imbue their narratives with an evocative power that underscores both mythic terror and the raw, human condition.
- The tears of time shed by every Age save that of Gold feed the four infernal streams and pools of Acheron, Styx, Phlegethon, and Cocytus.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - “Can you guess,” said d’Artagnan, “who was the man who headed this infernal expedition?”
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - ‘Be quick, Benson; do have done with that infernal clatter!’ cried his master.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
