Literary notes about burst (AI summary)
The word "burst" in literature unfolds a tapestry of suddenness and intensity, ranging from explosive physical actions to rapid surges of emotion. It often signals a moment of energetic transformation, whether it is an abrupt onset of laughter or tears, as in [1], [2], and [3], or a forceful intrusion into the narrative, such as a door being flung open in [4] or a physical object rupturing in [5]. At times, it conveys nature’s dramatic drama, evoking a tempest’s fury in [6] or even the literal bursting of flames and thunder in [7] and [8]. Other instances elevate personal transformation, as characters who “burst out laughing” in [9] or “burst into tears” in [10] display the unpredictability of human emotion. In its many incarnations, "burst" becomes a versatile verb that punctuates the text with bursts of sensory detail and emotional fervor, dynamically shaping the rhythm and tone of the narrative.
- He seemed dazed for a few seconds, and then full consciousness seemed to burst upon him all at once, and he started up.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - She tried to begin, and all at once burst into tears, and rushed out of the room.
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy - I kneeled on the ground beside her and put her poor head upon my shoulder, whereupon she drew her arm round my neck and burst into tears.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - But at that moment a group of six men, officials more or less, burst on to the platform, seized the orator and dragged him behind the scenes.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - This substance, pressed in a cartridge, and introduced among the nitro-glycerine, would burst by means of a fuse, and cause the explosion.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - H2 anchor To the Man-of-War-Bird Thou who hast slept all night upon the storm, Waking renew'd on thy prodigious pinions, (Burst the wild storm?
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman - Lorenzo flew to her succour, but ere He had time to reach her, a loud burst of thunder was heard.
— from The Monk: A Romance by M. G. Lewis - I quitted my seat, and walked on, although the darkness and storm increased every minute, and the thunder burst with a terrific crash over my head.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - And these words were still on her lips when with a sound of Ch'ih, she burst out laughing.
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao - About twenty paces from the hotel where I was staying, Kisotchka stopped by the lamp-post and burst into tears.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
