Literary notes about apace (AI summary)
In literature, "apace" is employed as a striking adverb to convey swiftness and rapid progression, infusing both action and the passage of time with a sense of urgency. It serves to animate scenes where movement, change, or events occur quickly, as when a character is urged to act without delay ([1], [2], [3]) or when night or ideas gather speedily around the narrative ([4], [5], [6]). At times, it underscores the inevitable quickening of life’s various processes, whether in the blooming of language or the surge of social and natural forces ([7], [8], [9]). Its versatile rhythm not only propels the plot but also enhances the thematic interplay between fleeting moments and the inexorable march of time ([10], [11], [12]).
- “Well, Mr. Bede, you're one o' them as mounts hup'ards apace,” he said, when Adam sat down.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot - Go, little letter, apace, apace, Fly; Fly to the light in the valley below— Tell my wish to her dewy blue eye.
— from The World's Best Poetry, Volume 10: Poetical Quotations - Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, Towards Phoebus' lodging!
— from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - "The night, my child, draws on apace," The mother's voice was heard to say, "The forest paths are hard to trace
— from Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan by Toru Dutt - The night crept on apace, the moon went down, the stars grew pale and dim, and morning, cold as they, slowly approached.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - Out of my dark hours wisdom dawns apace, Infinite Life unrolls its boundless space ...
— from Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke - Thus her vocabulary grows apace, and the new words germinate and bring forth new ideas; and they are the stuff out of which heaven and earth are made.
— from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller - ================================================ We must be willing to risk change to keep apace with rapid change.
— from The Online World by Odd De Presno - Time flies forward apace,—we would fain believe that everything flies forward with it,—that evolution is an advancing development....
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche - “But mind it not—I mend apace—a little clue doth often serve to bring me back again the things and names which had escaped me.
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain - THESEUS Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour Draws on apace; four happy days bring in Another moon; but, oh, methinks, how slow This old moon wanes!
— from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare - CHRISTIAN (same play): Love grew apace, rocked by the anxious beating. . .
— from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
