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Literary notes about blunderbuss (AI summary)

The word "blunderbuss" has been employed in literature both literally and metaphorically to evoke a sense of clumsiness or explosive impact. For instance, Louisa May Alcott’s character Jo uses the term humorously in [1] to describe herself, blending self-deprecation with an image of an awkward, ineffective tool. In contrast, authors like John Arbuthnot [2] and Jules Verne [3, 4] invoke the blunderbuss as an actual, formidable weapon within a dramatic or adventurous setting, emphasizing its brute, indiscriminate firepower. Victor Hugo [5] further employs the term in poetic language to illustrate an overwhelming, forceful presence, while its inclusion in a weapon list alongside cannon and mortars by Thomas Jefferson [6] and in a mistaken identity of a clumsy instrument by Farley and Kittredge [7] underscores its dual role as both an emblem of literal military might and a metaphor for ungainly action.
  1. "Oh, dear, what a blunderbuss I am!" exclaimed Jo, finishing Meg's glove by scrubbing her gown with it.
    — from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott
  2. Bring hither my blunderbuss; I'll warrant ye you shall see daylight through them.
    — from The History of John Bull by John Arbuthnot
  3. We had every known mechanism, from the hand–hurled harpoon, to the blunderbuss firing barbed arrows, to the duck gun with exploding bullets.
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne
  4. We possessed every known engine, from the harpoon thrown by the hand to the barbed arrows of the blunderbuss, and the explosive balls of the duck-gun.
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne
  5. " Ali deemed anchorite or saint a pawn— The crater of his blunderbuss did yawn, Sword, dagger hung at ease:
    — from Poems by Victor Hugo
  6. Cannon, carronades, howitzers, mortars, stone mortar, blunderbuss.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  7. A clumsy weapon, which I took for a blunderbuss, hung over the fireplace.
    — from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge

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