Literary notes about Scattered (AI summary)
The term "scattered" is deployed across literature to evoke images of dispersion, whether describing tangible elements or abstract ideas. It can illustrate a physical scene—a profusion of objects strewn about, such as books, ashes, or even natural features like trees and rocks—calling to mind the visual of debris or remnants dispersed over a wide area ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, it carries metaphorical weight when applied to groups of people, armies, or even fragments of thought, suggesting disunity or fragmentation that adds a layer of emotion to the narrative ([4], [5], [6]). Whether signifying the chaotic remnants of a battle or the delicate scattering of memories and emotions, the word enriches descriptions by bridging the tangible with the symbolic ([7], [8], [9]).
- It was an overturned wagon; his foot recognized pools of water, gullies, and paving-stones scattered and piled up.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - Around him were scattered his books, and, what seemed in singular contrast, that drum I told you about was hanging on a nail just above his head.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte - Over the lawn were scattered fifteen or twenty stumps of trees—partially imbedded in the grass—and upon all of these except two sat falcons.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - The rest of the army, on the further bank, also scattered and fled in all directions.] 5.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi - Words are insufficient to express the ardor with which I sigh for the reunion of the scattered members of Christ.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - For behold thy enemies, O lord, for behold thy enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - The “drunken stars” he explained as referring to the parched rice scattered on his left, and the full moon to the eyes of the image.
— from Malay Magic by Walter William Skeat - By establishing themselves in the center of a line of scattered forces they could have prevented the junction of the different fractions.
— from The Art of War by baron de Antoine Henri Jomini - Their opponents were scattered and powerless.
— from The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
