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Literary notes about Senseless (AI summary)

The term "senseless" functions in literature as a multifaceted descriptor, ranging from physical incapacitation to a metaphor for irrational behavior and absurdity. In some works, it paints a picture of bodily collapse or loss of consciousness—for instance, a character falling to the ground in shock or injury ([1], [2])—while in other contexts it conveys actions or policies devoid of logic and purpose ([3], [4], [5]). Poets and dramatists have also wielded the word to underline a kind of comic futility or an almost existential void, as seen in the witty, intricate usages in Shakespeare's writings ([6], [7]). Later novelists extend its application to capture both the chaotic internal states of individuals and the senselessness inherent in certain social or political acts ([8], [9]), thus demonstrating the term’s enduring versatility throughout literary history.
  1. Charlotte fell senseless at Albert's feet.
    — from The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  2. For a moment only did I lose recollection; I fell senseless on the ground.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  3. Some prohibitions are easily understood from their purpose but others strike us as incomprehensible, foolish and senseless.
    — from Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud
  4. What is the origin of this senseless and unnatural custom?
    — from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  5. that he himself judged to be senseless and impossible.
    — from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
  6. You might have pinch'd a placket, it was senseless; 'twas nothing to geld a codpiece of a purse; I would have fil'd keys off that hung in chains.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  7. You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord, Too ceremonious and traditional.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  8. It may be senseless to beg forgiveness of the birds, but birds would be happier at your side—a little happier, anyway—and children and
    — from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  9. One soldier, in his fear, uttered the senseless cry, “Cut off!”
    — from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy

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