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.
- "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 - Bring hither my blunderbuss; I'll warrant ye you shall see daylight through them.
— from The History of John Bull by John Arbuthnot - 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 - 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 - " Ali deemed anchorite or saint a pawn— The crater of his blunderbuss did yawn, Sword, dagger hung at ease:
— from Poems by Victor Hugo - Cannon, carronades, howitzers, mortars, stone mortar, blunderbuss.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - 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