Literary notes about even (AI summary)
The word “even” operates as a subtle yet powerful intensifier in literary language, used to extend, qualify, or contrast ideas in a nuanced manner. It often lends an unexpected twist, as when a character is reproached by those least expected to judge [1] or when lingering doubt colors a recollection [2]. In works with weighty, often moral overtones, “even” sharpens the impact by expanding the scope of a statement—from invoking dramatic shifts between heaven and hell [3] to suggesting that refined qualities may be found in the most unlikely places [4]. It functions equally in more measured discourse, where it underscores impartiality [5] or elevates an ordinary sentiment into one of quiet irony [6], enriching the narrative with layers of meaning that encourage readers to look closer.
- Even atheists reproach me with infidelity and anarchists with nihilism because I cannot endure their moral tirades.
— from Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy by Bernard Shaw - Even to this day I don’t feel sure I did right in listening to her at that terrible time when she came to me in Moscow.
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy - Let him pass from the snow waters to excessive heat, and his sin even to hell.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And even the portrait ought to be, as Winckelmann says, the ideal of the individual.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer - When connected with τὸ δίκαιον, the word naturally suggests an even-handed, impartial treatment, and is equivalent to the Latin æquitas : comp.
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon by J. B. Lightfoot - “Oh! Ahab,” cried Starbuck, “not too late is it, even now, the third day, to desist.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville
