Literary notes about clangour (AI summary)
The word "clangour" in literature is frequently used to evoke a sense of overwhelming, disruptive noise that marks moments of both mechanical and human tumult. In H. G. Wells’s work, for example, the abrupt cessation of clamorous motion in a shed’s rolling noise hints at a sudden pause after chaos [1], while another passage layers the hum of machinery with the faint presence of human voices [2]. Thomas Carlyle, in his historical narrative of the French Revolution, repeatedly employs “clangour” to underscore the relentless, jarring sound of debate, assembly, and even the clashing of arms—reflecting an environment charged with both political fervor and violent strife [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Similarly, historical and romantic literature by Livy and Walter Scott uses the term to denote the resounding collective noise of military might, from the synchronized clash of barbarian patrols [11] to the echoing blast of a trumpet on the battlefield [12].
- The clangour of rolling in the shed ceased abruptly.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - And then, amid the clangour of the machinery, came a drifting suspicion of human voices, that I entertained at first only to dismiss.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells - Clangour of approval rends the welkin.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Or is it the nature of National Assemblies generally to do, with endless labour and clangour, Nothing?
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Whereupon is clangour and clamour, debate, repentance,—evaporation.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Ah, under that fraternal shine and clangour, what a deep world of irreconcileable discords lie momentarily assuaged, damped down for one moment!
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Elsewhere you find South or North, nothing but untempered obscure jarring; which breaks forth ever and anon into open clangour of riot.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Moody-silent stands Salm, with occasional clangour; but does not fire.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Not without clangour, complaint; subsequent criminal trials, and official persons dying of heartbreak!
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - And so there go they, with clangour and terror, they know not as yet whether running, swimming or flying,—headlong into the New Era.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Presently the barbarians patrolling around the walls in troops, they heard their yells and the dissonant clangour of their arms.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - His trumpet sounds; the challenged makes reply: With clangour rings the field, resounds the vaulted sky.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott