Literary notes about clump (AI summary)
The word "clump" is employed in literature to evoke the idea of a compact cluster, often in a natural setting, that both shapes the landscape and influences the narrative’s atmosphere. It commonly denotes a dense grouping of trees, bushes, or flowers that serve as crucial landmarks or hiding places, as seen where characters encounter a secluded cottage near a clump of trees [1] or find refuge behind a clump of bushes [2]. At times, it even assumes a metaphorical life, lending character to a physical appearance, such as a scruffy clump of hair [3]. In its varied applications—from marking boundaries in nature to highlighting an individual trait—it enriches the text by adding a tactile, vivid quality to the settings and characters, as illustrated in passages that range from scenes of adventure [4, 5] to moments of subtle observation [6].
- After a few more steps, they saw, at the end of a long road near a clump of trees, a tiny cottage built of straw.
— from The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi - I set there behind a clump of bushes, in about six foot of him, and kept my eyes on him steady.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - He is a mild, bald, timid man with a shining head and a scrubby clump of black hair sticking out at the back.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - In a few minutes the settlers, seated under a clump of fine sea-pines, were devouring the provisions which Neb produced from his bag.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - When we had got some little distance away, we went into a clump of trees, and struck a match, and looked at the child’s throat.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - To the eye, therefore, it presents a clump of brick-dust red.
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge