Literary notes about WRITHE (AI summary)
The term "writhe" is richly employed in literature to evoke images of intense physical or emotional turmoil. It often describes the convulsive, twisting motions of a body under duress—whether due to pain, fear, or anguish—as seen when characters respond to torture or existential despair [1][2][3]. At times, the verb carries a more metaphorical weight, symbolizing inner conflict or the inescapable grip of fate, imbuing scenes with a palpable sense of struggle [4][5][6]. Additionally, nature itself can be animated by this word, as landscapes or elements are depicted as moving with a disturbing, almost sentient, agitation [7][8]. Ultimately, "writhe" stands as a vivid and versatile image in literature, capturing both the physical and metaphorical contortions of life and experience.
- His little mistakes in etiquette or address made him writhe with torture.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams - The pain made me writhe and moan, my face beaded with perspiration.
— from Love under Fire by Randall Parrish - When he saw bodies turn suddenly red under a rain of hot water, or writhe and tremble as if being whipped, he could believe all of it.
— from A Thought For Tomorrow by Robert E. Gilbert - Is it not sufficient for your infernal selfishness, that while you are at peace I shall writhe in the torments of hell?’
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - ‘I should like to, very much,’ replied Uriah, with a writhe.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - But suddenly he began to writhe with laughter, unable to speak.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - I found that under a prolonged gaze the face of the river began to writhe and eddy, as if from some horrible suppressed emotion.
— from Letters from America by Rupert Brooke - These ramifications of pipes with their hundred elbows imitated those old leafless vine-stocks which writhe over the fronts of old farm-houses.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
