Literary notes about appall (AI summary)
The word "appall" is used in literature to convey a sudden, overwhelming sense of dread, revulsion, or astonishment. In some passages it illustrates an immediate, almost visceral shock to the senses—whether when a bill shocks the unsuspecting diner [1] or when the roaring tumult of nature and battle shakes even the most courageous [2][3][4]. In historical and classic narratives, it can signal not only physical terror but also moral or emotional dismay, as seen when the cruelty of human actions or the haunting presence of death unsettles the soul [5][6][7]. Moreover, its usage spans from the realm of heroic defiance, where challenges that should appall instead embolden the spirit [8][9][10], to quieter moments when a subtle, disconcerting feeling creeps in, highlighting the multi-layered power of language in capturing the extremes of human emotion [11][12].
- But your bill at a restaurant will appall you.
— from As Seen By Me by Lilian Bell - The Infinite—the whirlwinds that appall— Thunder and waterspouts; and winds that shake As 'twere a tree its ripened fruit to take.
— from Poems by Victor Hugo - The height of these grim walls, the depth of the abyss over which you hang, the gloom, the silence only broken by the roar of the torrent, appall.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 25, April 1877 to September 1877 by Various - Confounded and appall'd, the unfinish'd game The suitors quit, and all to council came.
— from The Odyssey by Homer - and what was there in a simple curl of fair hair to appall that brutal man, familiar with every form of cruelty?
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - The traitor stands appall'd— Guilt's iron fangs engrasp his shrinking soul— He hears assembled France denounce his crimes!
— from The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Vol 2 (of 2) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge - "There is enough," he said, "in the real danger present to appall even the bravest, and we need no bell to tell us that death is among us.
— from St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty - In the path of God no errors can appall, no troubles dismay him.
— from Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era by J. E. (John Ebenezer) Esslemont - On the other side, there was a man whom no danger could appall.
— from PG Edition of Netherlands series — Complete by John Lothrop Motley - No persecution could appall him, no sickness could long keep him from his beloved engagements.
— from George Whitefield: A Biography, with special reference to his labors in America by Joseph Belcher - They say things that, if we heard them, would simply appall us.”
— from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - The Roman Emperor could not muzzle him, the dungeon could not appall him, no prison suppress him, obstacles could not discourage him.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden
