Literary notes about Preciosity (AI summary)
In literature, "preciosity" is frequently deployed to critique language that is excessively refined or artificially elegant. Authors and critics alike have used the term to signal a kind of affected ornamentation—a deliberate and sometimes ostentatious attention to style. For instance, it appears in discussions of witty and euphemistic language [1] as well as in descriptions of delicate diction that borders on fussiness [2, 3]. At times, preciosity is noted for imbuing a work with an air of refined, even if ultimately overdone, aesthetic, while in other contexts it is decried as a flaw that undermines natural expression by veering into affectation and artifice [4, 5, 6]. This multifaceted usage underscores its role as both a marker of cultivated style and a caution against the perils of excessive elaboration.
- Lyly, who corresponds approximately to the French Voiture, created euphemism : that is, witty preciosity.
— from Initiation into Literature by Émile Faguet - "But I do not want to give up the little rifle entirely," she went on, with dainty preciosity, watching him closely.
— from Conjuror's House: A Romance of the Free Forest by Stewart Edward White - The poem recalls Drummond of Hawthornden, not only by the rhythm, but also by a certain ‘preciosity’ of diction and imagery.
— from The Age of Tennyson by Hugh Walker - But, in reacting everywhere against vulgar roughness, the very excess of his effort landed him at last in preciosity.
— from Aspects and Impressions by Edmund Gosse - Walter Pater's essay on Style is honeycombed with involutions and preciosity.
— from Unicorns by James Huneker - It is only that, in seeking to compensate himself for his infecundity, he has fallen into the deep sea of preciosity.
— from Musical Portraits : Interpretations of Twenty Modern Composers by Paul Rosenfeld
