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Literary notes about Labour (AI summary)

The term "labour" in literature conveys a broad spectrum of meanings ranging from the literal physical exertion of work to metaphorical or symbolic endeavors. In many classical works, it denotes tangible effort, as seen when characters discuss physical toil—whether in the throes of childbirth or the grueling tasks of everyday existence ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, writers like Shakespeare and Milton employ it to signify creative and moral exertion, reflecting both internal struggles and societal responsibilities ([4], [5], [6], [7]). In economic and philosophical texts, "labour" is analyzed as a quantifiable commodity and a marker of human contribution, featured prominently in the works of Adam Smith and Plato ([8], [9], [10], [11], [12]). Even in religious writings, the word is imbued with symbolic value, linking human effort with divine expectations ([13], [14], [15]). Thus, across genres and eras, "labour" emerges as a multifaceted concept embodying both the endurance of individual human effort and the collective dynamics of society.
  1. What did it matter if the mother talked Polish and cried in labour, if this child were stiff with resistance, and crying?
    — from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence
  2. There were pains as of a woman in labour.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  3. The trial began in the morning and towards night they passed this sentence: to send her to hard labour in Siberia for thirteen years.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  4. If I find her honest, I lose not my labour; if she be otherwise, 'tis labour well bestowed.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  5. Look how we labour.
    — from The Tragedy of King Lear by William Shakespeare
  6. So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov’d on, with difficulty and labour hee; But hee once past, soon after when man fell, Strange alteration!
    — from Paradise Lost by John Milton
  7. ’Tis now your honour, daughter, to entertain The labour of each knight in his device.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  8. Such a tax must, therefore, occasion a rise in the wages of labour, proportionable to this rise of price.
    — from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
  9. But the current prices of labour, at distant times and places, can scarce ever be known with any degree of exactness.
    — from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
  10. Corporation laws, however, give less obstruction to the free circulation of stock from one place to another, than to that of labour.
    — from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
  11. Neither do we know how much more the co-operation of minds or of hands may be capable of accomplishing, whether in labour or in study.
    — from The Republic by Plato
  12. 369 ff., Division of Labour.
    — from The Republic of Plato by Plato
  13. Therefore have I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, for the devastation of the daughter of my people.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  14. I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them that are evil.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  15. See my abjection and my labour; and forgive me all my sins.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete

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