Literary notes about Refrain (AI summary)
In literature, “refrain” carries a dual resonance, functioning both as an indication of self-restraint and as a lyrical repetition that enriches a work’s rhythm or thematic echo. Authors invoke the word to stress a character’s deliberate omission of speech or action, as seen when individuals “could not refrain” from acting on raw emotion or regret [1, 2, 3, 4]. Conversely, the term also denotes a recurring musical or poetic motif that brings a unifying cadence to a narrative [5, 6, 7, 8]. Whether warning against excess—urging one “to refrain from trickery” or “to refrain from strife” [9, 10, 11]—or capturing an irresistible impulse of laughter or tears [12, 13, 14], refrain is adeptly employed by writers to convey both restraint and a persistent, haunting echo that resonates through the story.
- While the Nautilus was clearing a path through their tight ranks, Conseil couldn't refrain from making this comment: "Mercy, look at these cod!"
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - He was on the point of going out without a word, but could not refrain from approaching Darya Pavlovna.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Finally, it seemed as if all her state was one of loneliness and forsakenness, and she could scarce refrain from trembling at the lip.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - ‘I would refrain from such language in a lady’s presence, at least,’ said Mr. Hargrave, hiding his anger under a mask of disgust.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - About this time I was obsessed by an unspeakably sad melody, the refrain of which I recognised in the words, ‘dead through immortality.’
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - There's an old story has the same refrain; Who bade them so construe it?
— from Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - A "refrain" is the lure wherewith a poet or a musician holds the wandering ear,—the recurrent longing of Nature for the initial strain.
— from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe - There is a refrain, gathered from many ages, in William Blake’s apostrophe to the tiger:—
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway - Wish for one thing only; always to act or to refrain as social wisdom requires. 13.
— from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius - Refrain from strife, and thou shalt diminish thy sins.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - It is of course self-evident that one must absolutely refrain from trickery.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross - I could not refrain from laughter, his rage was so grotesque.
— from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc - I shall cautiously refrain from any word that may tend to influence your suffrages in the election of an emperor.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - He was so smiling and happy after that, that I could not refrain from asking him how he could possibly be so comfortable with a crushed foot.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain
