Literary notes about ebb (AI summary)
The term "ebb" weaves together themes of physical retreat and metaphorical decline across literary works. In many narratives, it vividly describes the natural receding of a tide—setting the stage for seafaring adventures and dramatic departures ([1], [2], [3])—while simultaneously symbolizing waning fortunes, diminished spirits, or the decline of societal norms ([4], [5], [6]). Poets and dramatists extend its imagery to capture the fluidity of life, hinting at both the inevitable ebb of hope and the eventual resurgence that follows ([7], [8], [9]). In this way, "ebb" serves as a potent emblem of change, loss, and the cyclical rhythm inherent in nature and human existence ([10]).
- Instantly the skiff wheeled around under the ebb tide's outbound thrust.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - However, the ship went out on the ebb tide; and was doubtless by morning far down the river mouth.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - As neither the ebb nor flow can then be felt, the ferry boat was in no danger of being carried out to sea, or dashed upon the rocky coast.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - One day I had come to my studies in lower spirits than usual; the ebb was occasioned by a poignantly felt disappointment.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - "Medical knowledge is at a low ebb among us," said Mr. Bulstrode, who spoke in a subdued tone, and had rather a sickly air.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - When I heard of Clementine’s happiness, it was, as I have said, on my return from Spain, and my fortunes were at a low ebb.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Now stops thy spring; my sea shall suck them dry, And swell so much the higher by their ebb.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea, Where it shall mingle with the state of floods, And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Yet the systole and diastole [288] of the heart are not without their analogy in the ebb and flow of love.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - But, as fate decreed, the tide of Mohammedan invasion had reached its limit, and the ebb was about to set in.
— from The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole