Literary notes about SPRY (AI summary)
In literature, the term spry is often employed to invoke a sense of lively agility and energetic promptness, whether describing youthful vigor or unexpected liveliness in older individuals. Authors use it to convey a character’s nimbleness in both body and mind—from the spirited, high-stepping animal mentioned alongside a family in [1] to the remarkably youthful stride of a septuagenarian likened to a twenty‐year-old in [2]. It also appears in more casual dialogue and rustic settings, emphasizing practicality and readiness, as when a character is expected to act quickly under pressure in [3]. This versatile term, seamlessly blending humor with admiration, enriches character portrayals and adds a kinetic quality to narrative scenes throughout literary works.
- Behind these came Charley's wife and little girl in the buggy, with the new, young, spry, gray horse—a high-stepper.
— from The Entire Project Gutenberg Works of Mark Twain by Mark Twain - He was nearly seventy years of age and as spry as a youth of twenty.
— from Iceland: Horseback tours in saga land by W. S. C. (Waterman Spaulding Chapman) Russell - 'Tis a spry chap that—as cunning as a fox.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie
