Literary notes about discord (AI summary)
In literature, "discord" functions as a versatile term ranging from the literal cacophony in nature to metaphorical representations of strife and disunity among groups, individuals, or even cosmic forces. Poets evoke its turbulent quality to depict scenes of natural chaos, as seen when loud discord leads to immediate calamity [1], while philosophers and historians use it to comment on the societal and political breakdown that paves the way for conflict, as illustrated by endless civil strife in empires [2][3][4]. Authors also employ the word to delve into internal and interpersonal conflict, whether in the discord sown in the hearts of mythological beings [5][6] or in personal relationships and debates that unravel harmony [7][8]. Even in musical and rhetorical contexts, the term suggests a clash of tones or ideas, highlighting the intrinsic human struggle to achieve unity amidst a backdrop of competing forces [9][10].
- Through all the air loud discord spread, And, struck with fear, the birds fell dead.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - Before the wounds of civil discord could be healed, the provinces of Gaul were overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Their union might have supported a sinking empire; their discord was the fatal and immediate cause of the loss of Africa.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - In the tumult of civil discord, the laws of society lose their force, and their place is seldom supplied by those of humanity.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - How the goddess of discord resented her exclusion from the marriage festivities has already been shown.
— from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens - The "Cypria" begins with the first causes of the war, the purpose of Zeus to relieve the overburdened earth, the apple of discord, the rape of Helen.
— from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod - There, if there be any discord or suits between any of the family, they are compounded and appeased.
— from New Atlantis by Francis Bacon - This mother has a way of drawing the troubled child out of discord into the zone of perpetual harmony.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - I never heard So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Let falshood like a discord anger you, Else be not froward.
— from The Poems of John Donne, Volume 1 (of 2) by John Donne
