Literary notes about bereaved (AI summary)
The term "bereaved" in literature is employed to evoke a state of profound loss and grief, often underscoring the emotional void left by death or other separations. Authors use it to characterize individuals—from a grieving husband standing in silent despair [1] to widowed figures whose sorrow shapes their identity [2, 3]—while also extending its application to communities and even nature itself, as when a nation or a court is depicted as mourning [4, 5]. In some works, the adjective carries a metaphorical heft, capturing not merely the loss of a person but also the deprivation of intangible qualities like light or sense [6, 7]. Overall, its versatile use magnifies both personal tragedy and collective melancholy across diverse literary contexts.
- They reached the spot where the bereaved husband stood: and stopped.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - Some widowers are bereaved—others, relieved.
— from A Guide to Men: Being Encore Reflections of a Bachelor Girl by Helen Rowland - I pass over Alfred Inglethorp, who acted the bereaved widower in a manner that I felt to be disgusting in its hypocrisy.
— from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - For if a distressed People has its cry, so likewise, and more audibly, has a bereaved Court.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Patriot Paris roars; as the bear bereaved of her whelps.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - But I am black, as if bereaved of light.
— from Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake - What can man’s wisdom In the restoring his bereaved sense, He that helps him take all my outward worth.
— from The Tragedy of King Lear by William Shakespeare
