Literary notes about Longing (AI summary)
Across a wide range of texts, "longing" is used to capture the profound, multifaceted nature of human yearning. It can denote a tangible desire—a wish for something concrete or an escape from present conditions, as when a character craves a tangible change or the presence of a loved one [1, 2, 3]—or it can embody more abstract, spiritual or emotional aspirations, expressing a deep-seated need that transcends mere physical wants [4, 5, 6]. At times, longing conveys both melancholy and hope simultaneously, reflecting the bittersweet nature of our innermost desires, whether in the quiet solitude of unfulfilled dreams or in the fiery determination to seek a higher purpose [7, 8, 9]. This rich symbolism transforms longing into a dynamic literary tool that not only deepens character development but also connects individual experience to wider philosophical musings about life and existence [10, 11, 12].
- The Huntsman wished to have the fish, and their owner experienced an equal longing for the contents of the game-bag.
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop - He could not have imagined that the young girl was reading a volume of reports of clinics and longing to be elsewhere.
— from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner - Amy often looked wistfully across, longing to be there, where she felt at home and happy, instead of in a corner with nothing to do.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott - Bitterness is in the cup even of the best love: thus doth it cause longing for the Superman; thus doth it cause thirst in thee, the creating one!
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - But the more they sink, the more ardently gloweth their eye, and the longing for their God.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - I'm all aglow, I fear to die nor yet the hour can tell When I shall part from pain so fierce and fell As that which, longing, for his sake I dree
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio - And the light vanished away, but not the longing of the Dryad.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - As father Jose gazed, he was penetrated with a pious longing.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte - It is, nevertheless, A feeling of sadness and longing That is not akin to pain, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - In spite of my longing to see my daughter I determined not to take any steps to meet her till the ensuing Sunday, when I was invited to dinner.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - I endeavoured in various ways to secure all that seemed most attractive about the project, or which filled my soul with longing.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner - The protracted longing of his youth is not a vague, romantic longing: he knows what he longs for, what he wills.
— from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry by Walter Pater
