Literary notes about afflicted (AI summary)
Throughout literature, "afflicted" is employed to convey a profound sense of suffering—whether physical, emotional, or moral. In sacred narratives, for instance, it underscores divine chastisement or communal despair, as seen when a people lament their woes [1] or when poignant grief grips characters in epic tales [2], [3]. The term also vividly depicts personal trials, ranging from bodily maladies [4], [5] and debilitating pain [6] to inner torment and moral distress [7], [8]. Even in more secular or ironic contexts, "afflicted" serves to emphasize vulnerability and hardship amid adversity, whether in the weariness of a long journey [9] or the melancholic resignation of a character grappling with fate [10]. This versatile adjective thus enriches literary portrayals of suffering by reflecting both external calamities and the inner struggles of individuals facing the trials of life.
- And Moses returned to the Lord, and said: Lord, why hast thou afflicted this people?
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - These twenty-four Rajas were formerly spoken of by the celestial Rishi Narada unto Saivya when much afflicted for the loss of his children.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - “Sauti continued, ‘King Janamejaya, having listened to the words of his ministers, was sorely afflicted with grief, and began to weep.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - She was afflicted with toothache; one tooth after another ulcerated, and she went about with her face swollen half the time.
— from My Ántonia by Willa Cather - “They mostly do,” said the clergyman, griping hard at his breast as if afflicted with an importunate throb of pain.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - Justinian was afflicted by a pain in his head; and his private entry countenanced the rumor of his death.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Afflicted I may be, it seems, and blest; I will not argue that, nor will repine.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton - A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Thither they came afflicted both by the tediousness of their journey, and by their want of food, for it entirely failed them at that time.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus - When in the deep woods, fatigued and afflicted with hunger, thou thinkest of thy former bliss, I will, O great monarch, soothe thy weariness.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1
