Literary notes about Revert (AI summary)
The term "revert" in literature conveys a return to a prior state, condition, or discussion, and its usage spans a variety of contexts. Authors employ it to describe literal or metaphorical regression; for instance, it denotes the physical return to an original position as when estates or properties are restored to their previous owners ([1, 2]), while in narrative prose it may indicate a mental shift back to earlier thoughts or moods ([3, 4, 5]). Philosophical and rhetorical texts often use "revert" to direct the reader back to initial premises or definitions, as seen in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Kant ([6, 7, 8, 9]), highlighting its function as a tool for structuring complex arguments. In poetic as well as dramatic contexts, the word enriches the texture of language, evoking a sense of inevitable recurrence or introspection ([10, 11]). Even in technical discussions like those on heraldry or scientific thought, the term reinforces a cyclical or restorative process, emphasizing a shift from modern innovations back to historically grounded practices ([12, 13]). This versatile word thus serves as a literary bridge linking different times, ideas, and states, underscoring the perpetual interplay between the past and the present.
- “At her death the said property shall revert to my estate.
— from Ancient, Curious, and Famous Wills by Virgil M. (Virgil McClure) Harris - If she died single, or died childless, the estate would revert to her cousin, Magdalen, the daughter of Mr. Arthur Fairlie.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - Besides, I wish at once to tell you my wishes and expectations, and then never again to revert to so painful a subject.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - In the midst of this hurry however his thoughts had leisure to revert to those anxieties which had occupied him as he was falling asleep.
— from Walladmor, Vol. 1 (of 2) "Freely Translated into German from the English of Sir Walter Scott." And Now Freely Translated from the German into English. by Willibald Alexis - But while he chewed, his thoughts seemed to revert to Effie, his Effie, whom he had lost forever and aye, and great tears rolled down his cheeks.
— from The Adventures of Maya the Bee by Waldemar Bonsels - And to this vernacular use Plato himself in the Laws seems to revert, though not always.
— from The Republic by Plato - But we must revert to the point first raised, since the present question will be easily determined from that.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle - We revert then to the above fundamental proposition of Teleology.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant - Let us revert to the proposition 'two and two are four'.
— from The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell - Why does the heart in thy bosom Ever revert in its yearning Throb to the Goddess?
— from The Poems of Sappho: An Interpretative Rendition into English by Sappho - or what half Januses[1] are we, that cannot look forward with the same idolatry with which we for ever revert!
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 by Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb - If his meaning be, That to the influencing of these orbs revert The honour and the blame in human acts, Perchance he doth not wholly miss the truth.
— from Divine Comedy, Cary's Translation, Paradise by Dante Alighieri - To understand the question of cadency it is necessary to revert to the status of a coat of arms in early periods.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
