Literary notes about Portend (AI summary)
In literature, "portend" is frequently used to foreshadow significant and often ominous events, lending a sense of forewarning and unease to the narrative. Writers employ it to signal that a present action or observation hints at future calamity or drastic change, as when a neglected display is said to portend disaster [1] or when celestial phenomena seem to portend revolutionary upheavals [2]. The term also encourages readers to dwell on the ambiguous nature of omens—whether suggesting imminent death [3], signaling shifts in fortune [4], or even hinting at subtle political and personal turning points [5, 6]. In each instance, "portend" acts as a literary device that deepens the mystery and tension by linking seemingly mundane details with the gravity of what is yet to come [7].
- The utter neglect of decency [ 72 ] exhibited by the display of that shameful bandanna could only portend calamity.
— from Goslings by J. D. (John Davys) Beresford - It seemed to portend the beginning of a revolution in the heavens.
— from Curiosities of the Sky by Garrett Putman Serviss - [I] “Fey,” a Scottish word, expressive of that unaccountable and violent mirth which is supposed frequently to portend sudden death.—
— from Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 02 - Thy liquid notes that close the eye of day, First heard before the shallow cuckoo's bill, Portend success in love.
— from The Home Book of Verse — Volume 3 by Burton Egbert Stevenson - We got off and waited for them, wondering what the change of horses might portend.
— from Raw Gold: A Novel by Bertrand W. Sinclair - What might the staying of my blood portend?
— from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe - He called on him for strength to avert the misfortunes which this night seemed to portend.
— from The Miracles of Antichrist: A Novel by Selma Lagerlöf
