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Literary notes about Swallow (AI summary)

The word "swallow" in literature demonstrates an impressive range of meanings—from the literal act of ingesting food or medicine to a rich metaphor for accepting ideas or being overcome by circumstances. In some works it depicts physical consumption, as when characters are described swallowing pills to immunize themselves [1] or struggling to swallow their food [2], while in others it serves as a vivid metaphor for uncritically accepting whatever is presented, such as swallowing dubious advice or truths [3, 4]. Authors also play with its imagery beyond the act itself, using the term to evoke lightness or agility—as when a ship is likened to a swallow in flight [5]—or to personify the bird, giving it a voice or character in narrative [6, 7]. This versatility underscores how "swallow" contributes layers of meaning in literature, enriching both the literal and figurative language of narrative art.
  1. The landing was a routine bump and the voyagers were issued tablets to swallow to immunize them against any minor ailments.
    — from The Marching Morons by C. M. Kornbluth
  2. The spoons were moved slowly: I saw each girl taste her food and try to swallow it; but in most cases the effort was soon relinquished.
    — from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë
  3. His advices, however, were seldom authentic; for he would swallow almost anything as a truth—a humour which many made use of to impose upon him.
    — from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
  4. And woe unto me if I could not laugh at your marvelling, and had to swallow all that is repugnant in your platters!
    — from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
  5. And indeed that ship was as light as a swallow, so that it rather seemed to fly on the sea than to sail.
    — from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
  6. Said the Swallow: "Just look at my bright and downy feathers.
    — from The Aesop for Children by Aesop
  7. The swallow sang, "Tweet, tweet," and from his song came the whole story.
    — from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen

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