Literary notes about Respite (AI summary)
Writers often deploy the term “respite” to mark a temporary pause amid ceaseless conflict or suffering, imbuing moments of calm with a poignant sense of urgency. In some works, it signals a deliberate delay in governmental or military actions, as when a prolonged break hints at strategic regrouping [1][2], while in others it captures a brief interlude from personal torment or relentless duty [3][4]. The use of “respite” also frequently carries a bittersweet quality, where even a momentary relief is fraught with the looming return of hardship—as seen when characters savor a short-lived break that only intensifies the inevitable struggle [5][6]. This versatility—from denoting a pause in massive historical events to a fleeting personal haven—underscores the term’s enduring power as a symbol of both hope and impermanence in literature [7][8].
- This respite, which was thus prolonged, was a sign that the Government was taking its time, and collecting its forces.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - In the meantime, in Britain, there was some respite from foreign, but not from civil war.
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Saint the Venerable Bede - The malady of hopeless love I have endured without respite.
— from Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin - But sleep did not afford me respite from thought and misery; my dreams presented a thousand objects that scared me.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire party, numbering some thousand men, came charging into view, racing madly toward me.
— from A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs - But the Valley soldiers knew that their respite would be short.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - Take then the respite of a night And yield thee to each soft delight.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - Thank heaven for the respite I now enjoy!
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
