Literary notes about Plaint (AI summary)
In literature, "plaint" functions as a rich and multifaceted term that evokes deep emotional expression. It is often used to render an individual's lament or complaint in a poetic or dramatic mode, capturing both the intensity of personal grief and the formal resonance of a measured appeal. In epic and sacred narratives, for instance, it becomes a vehicle for conveying divine sorrow or heroic despair ([1], [2], [3]), while in legal and conversational contexts it signifies a formal grievance or petition ([4], [5], [6]). Additionally, "plaint" is at times used to mirror the subdued, yet persistent, murmurings of nature or internal anguish—a soft, almost musical cry of sorrow ([7], [8], [9]).
- Soon as he heard, the mighty saint Thus answered Daśaratha's plaint In sweetest tone: “Now, Monarch, mark, And learn from me the meaning dark.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - When Viśvámitra, glorious saint, Had heard the boy's heart-rending plaint.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - But Ráma's heart inclined to spare, He listened to his plaint and prayer, And cried aloud: “O Vánars, cease; The captive from his bonds release.”
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - Go not with every ailment to the doctor, nor with every plaint to the lawyer.
— from A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs - First, then, we could lay a plaint before the court.”
— from The Champdoce Mystery by Emile Gaboriau - We now have all that is necessary for lodging a formal plaint in court.
— from The Champdoce Mystery by Emile Gaboriau - Now and then she uttered a soft, but sharply pleading call, more plaint than protest.
— from Life Histories of North American Shore Birds, Part 1 (of 2) by Arthur Cleveland Bent - She went into the park, and heard the plaint of a nightingale.
— from The World's Illusion, Volume 2 (of 2): Ruth by Jakob Wassermann - In secret anguish and unpittied plaint, Whiles you in carelesse sleepe are drowned quight.
— from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Edmund Spenser
