Literary notes about abandon (AI summary)
The term "abandon" in literary works carries multifaceted meanings, ranging from literal desertion to nuanced emotional relinquishment. In some writings, it denotes a physical or strategic departure—such as leaving behind one's post or forsaking a territory ([1], [2])—while in others it connotes an internal, heartfelt surrender, as when characters yield to overwhelming emotions or circumstances ([3], [4]). Authors employ the word to evoke the act of relinquishing cherished ideals or to underscore a decisive break from duty or tradition, suggesting that to abandon can be both an act of irresponsibility and one of liberating resolve ([5], [6]). This versatility makes "abandon" a powerful rhetorical device, encapsulating the tension between duty and desire that permeates the human experience ([7], [8]).
- [90] Who was obliged to abandon his only child on the roadside.
— from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems - Running aground, he was obliged to abandon his vessel.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant - A thing had happened to him that made him hate life, and he hated it wholeheartedly, with the abandon of a poet.
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson - With childish abandon she gave herself over to grief, her voice breaking the evening stillness of the street.
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson - When we renounce the Christian faith, we abandon all right to Christian morality.
— from The Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. The Antichrist by Nietzsche - that you should not abandon your holy enterprise for the deliverance of the African church.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - And in like manner He has not failed His own people in the power of a nation which, though barbarous, is yet human,—He who did not abandon the prophet
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - Or history with its immanent spirit, which has its goal in itself, and to which one can abandon oneself.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche
