Literary notes about Sympathize (AI summary)
The term "sympathize" appears in literature with remarkably diverse implications. In some works it conveys an intimate, personal sharing of emotion and understanding, as when a character expresses empathy with another’s sorrow or plight ([1], [2]) or seeks a friend who can truly share in his or her experience ([3], [4]). In others, it extends to a broader ideological or communal alignment, where affiliation with social or political causes is stressed ([5], [6]), or even a sense of duty to support and console ([7], [8]). This spectrum of usage illustrates how "sympathize" functions both as a reflection of private emotional resonance and as a marker of public or moral solidarity.
- “My dear friend?” said she, in a tone of pathetic inquiry, prepared to sympathize in any way.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - I inquired, perceiving that the wretched creature had no power to sympathize with his cousin’s mental tortures.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me; whose eyes would reply to mine.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - One day I mentioned to him the desire I had always felt of finding a friend who might sympathize with me, and direct me by his counsel.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - I quite sympathize with the rage of the English democracy against what they call the vices of the upper orders.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - The women of my country look to this for encouragement and sympathy; and they, also, sympathize with this cause.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - now—but I must tell you how deeply I sympathize with you in your great loss.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - In paying your visits of condolence, show, by your own quiet gravity, that you sympathize in the recent affliction of your friend.
— from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness by Florence Hartley
