Literary notes about enumeration (AI summary)
Writers employ the term "enumeration" to signify the systematic listing or classification of items, ideas, or events in a manner that can be both functional and stylistically expressive. In historical and legal texts, it often refers to an exhaustive record or count of elements, such as rights or population figures, which serves to legitimize and clarify the subject matter—for instance, the careful detailing of papal oppressions or the delineation of governmental responsibilities ([1], [2], [3]). In philosophical and analytical works, enumeration is used not merely to list parts but to probe the limits of what can be fully expressed, as seen when authors discuss the challenges of encapsulating complex ideas into a finite series ([4], [5], [6]). Literary narratives sometimes adopt the device of enumeration to create rhythm or to underscore a character's state of mind, as when recounting personal sorrows or humorous anecdotes ([7], [8]). In works of myth and folklore, it functions as a tool for cataloging legendary entities or ritual practices, further enriching the cultural or symbolic tapestry of the narrative ([9], [10]). Thus, across various genres, enumeration acts both as a practical means of organizing information and as a nuanced rhetorical instrument that adds clarity, emphasis, and sometimes even an aesthetic quality to the text.
- A committee was at once appointed by the Diet to prepare an enumeration of the papal oppressions that weighed so heavily on the German people.
— from The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen Gould Harmon White - An actual census or enumeration of the people must furnish the rule, a circumstance which effectually shuts the door to partiality or oppression.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 2 by Alexis de Tocqueville - That the case is the same with all our simple impressions and ideas, it is impossible to prove by a particular enumeration of them.
— from A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume - Complex ideas may, perhaps, be well known by definition, which is nothing but an enumeration of those parts or simple ideas, that compose them.
— from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume - [628] But no enumeration could exhaust this infinitely complex idea.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - ha!"—and honest Raggles continued, in a lamentable tone, an enumeration of his griefs.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - Mrs. Lynde did not spare him in her enumeration of his shortcomings, you may be sure.
— from Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery - Here follows in the original an enumeration of the chief blessings which will attend the man or woman who reads or hears read this tale of Ráma.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - [247] For an enumeration of the Tuatha De Danann chieftains and their respective territories see Silva Gadelica , ii. 225.
— from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries by W. Y. Evans-Wentz
