Literary notes about Neglected (AI summary)
In literature, the word “neglected” is employed with a richness that spans both concrete and abstract realms. It can denote the physical abandonment of objects or places—as in the overlooked works in an administration [1] or the unattended flower gardens [2]—while also conveying emotional isolation where characters feel forgotten or undervalued [3, 4, 5]. The term further extends into moral or intellectual lapses, suggesting omissions in duty or thought, as seen when responsibilities are shirked or when key cultural elements are passed over [6, 7]. In this way, “neglected” becomes a powerful motif, reinforcing themes of decay, loss, and the consequences of inattention in both social and individual contexts [8, 9, 10].
- Under such an administration therefore, such works are almost always entirely neglected.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - You need not be afraid, Miss Elliot, of your own sweet flower gardens being neglected.
— from Persuasion by Jane Austen - “I hope you won’t think yourself neglected, Drusilla,” she said.
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - I am afraid they may feel themselves neglected.
— from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - For all your closeness, I see you are in a bad way—neglected by one who ought to cherish you.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - He neglected his duty—kept dodging it, shirking it, putting it off, and his unrelenting conscience kept persecuting him for this conduct.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain - The senses are the first of our faculties to mature; they are those most frequently overlooked or neglected.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - I had often made depredations on these preserves; and the neglected state of the property facilitated my incursions.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Day after day, week after week, month after month, I was coldly neglected.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - We can only account for its absence by supposing the murderer to have neglected the precaution of supplying himself with it before pushing off.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
