Literary notes about earnestness (AI summary)
Earnestness in literature is employed to convey a deep, often impassioned sincerity that ranges from heartfelt vulnerability to resolute determination. Authors use the term to highlight a character’s fervor and commitment—whether expressed as trembling intensity in moments of personal truth [1] or as an unwavering dedication in the pursuit of ideals, as seen when a character’s emotions compel action or reflection [2, 3]. It can also serve as a subtle marker of irony or pretense, contributing to both character development and thematic depth, and is sometimes invoked in philosophical or rhetorical discourse [4, 5]. In these ways, earnestness becomes a versatile device that enriches the narrative with layers of emotional and intellectual significance [6, 7].
- She seemed to speak the truth; her countenance was white and agitated; and she trembled with very earnestness.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - I love you!" "How can you love a simple girl like me?" asked Phoebe, compelled by his earnestness to speak.
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne - His earnestness and courage won upon all.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Not the general whole only; every compartment of it is worked out, with intense earnestness, into truth, into clear visuality.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle - “Nobody, nobody is good enough,” I began with the greatest earnestness.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - In point of morality and moral earnestness I do not believe that the French are ahead of my own race in America.
— from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington - Among the writers of this school there is no one who shows more earnestness in the effort to penetrate to really self-evident principles than Clarke.
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick
