Literary notes about Vivacity (AI summary)
In literature, vivacity often signifies an energetic, animated quality that infuses both character and narrative with life and brilliance. Authors employ the term to depict not only the lively countenance and sparkling personality of characters [1, 2, 3] but also to describe a dynamic, engaging style of conversation and artistic expression [4, 5, 6]. Philosophers and essayists, on the other hand, use it to characterize the force and compelling clarity of ideas and impressions, often contrasting it with gravity or deliberate restraint [7, 8, 9, 10]. This versatility allows vivacity to bridge the realms of emotion, intellect, and aesthetics, rendering it a powerful tool in both character development and stylistic description [11, 12].
- St. Aubert observed the uncommon vivacity of his countenance: 'What has pleased you so much?' said he.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe - His hair was long and black, not curled like wool; his forehead very high and large; and a great vivacity and sparkling sharpness in his eyes.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - At that moment the door opened and admitted Mr. Hargrave, just a little flushed, his dark eyes sparkling with unwonted vivacity.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - He had been talking all day, on many subjects, and with unusual vivacity.
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - And so, when the pianist had finished, Swann crossed the room and thanked him with a vivacity which delighted Mme.
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust - ‘I beg you won’t mention it, sir,’ replied the feminine Pott, with vivacity.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - Impressions and ideas differ only in their strength and vivacity.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - This effect it can only have by making an idea approach an impression in force and vivacity.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - These faculties may mimic or copy the perceptions of the senses; but they never can entirely reach the force and vivacity of the original sentiment.
— from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume - The memory, senses, and understanding are, therefore, all of them founded on the imagination, or the vivacity of our ideas.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - As Vivacity is the Gift of Women, Gravity is that of Men.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - 416.—The vivacity which increases in old age is not far removed from folly.
— from Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims by François duc de La Rochefoucauld
