Literary notes about aggrieve (AI summary)
The word "aggrieve" in literary contexts has often been employed to express the imposition of sorrow or hardship, whether by divine will or by personal circumstance. In "Revelations of Divine Love" ([1], [2], [3]), the phrase is used in a rhetorical sense to suggest that one should not be troubled by suffering when it is attributed to divine will and purpose. In contrast, in Longfellow’s translation of Dante’s "Divine Comedy" ([4]), the term takes on a more personal tone, reflecting an individual lament about how aging amplifies personal distress. Additionally, the definition noted in "Doña Perfecta" ([5]) highlights its usage to indicate provoking or causing one to feel wronged, thereby showcasing the evolution of its meaning from a context of divinely ordained adversity to one of subjective affliction.
- What should it then aggrieve thee to suffer awhile, seeing that it is my will and my worship?
— from Revelations of Divine Love - What should it then aggrieve thee to suffer awhile, seeing it is my will and my worship?
— from Revelations of Divine Love - And this shewed our Lord in these words: What should it then aggrieve thee to suffer awhile, sith it is my will and my worship?
— from Revelations of Divine Love - And if it now were, it were not too soon; Would that it were, seeing it needs must be, For 'twill aggrieve me more the more I age.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - agraviar t aggrieve, put one's self wrong with, provoke.
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós