Literary notes about POWER (AI summary)
In literature, the word "power" traverses a vast spectrum of ideas—from the tangible to the abstract. In some narratives, power is depicted as a source of wonder and achievement, as when Twain's protagonist marvels at a hard-won, almost magical ability ([1]). Elsewhere, it embodies the supernatural and mythic—magic that revives the dead or curses a being ([2], [3])—while in philosophical texts it stretches toward the essence of human emotion, love, and intellectual control ([4], [5], [6]). Political and historical writings further illustrate power as a force of governance and social change, whether manifesting in the authority of kings and governments ([7], [8]) or the transformative might of innovation and collective will ([9], [10]). Such varied portrayals show that "power" in literary works is not confined to one arena but rather functions as a multifaceted symbol of human potential, destiny, and institutional strength.
- "Wonderful!” "What study, what labor, to have acquired a so amazing power as this!”
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - After he had gathered all the parts of the body together, Kanag used magical power, and his father came to life.
— from Philippine Folk Tales - Cursed by the angry sage's power, She stood in stone that selfsame hour.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - Mankind, he said, judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think, at all understood the power of Love.
— from Symposium by Plato - But I must also remind you, that the power of dialectic alone can reveal this, and only to one who is a disciple of the previous sciences.
— from The Republic by Plato - Ἐγκρατεύομαι, f. εύσομαι, to possess the power of self-control or continence, 1 Co. 7.9; to practise abstinence, 1 Co. 9.25.
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield - Sutter was monarch of all he surveyed, and had authority to inflict punishment even unto death, a power he did not fail to use.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman - He was adopted by Pius; and, on the accession of Marcus, was invested with an equal share of sovereign power.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The power of the railway system had enormously increased since 1870.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams - In the United States each separate journal exercises but little authority, but the power of the periodical press is only second to that of the people.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville
