Literary notes about ferocious (AI summary)
In literature, the word ferocious is employed as a powerful intensifier to evoke a range of vivid, often wild, characteristics in both creatures and characters. It frequently characterizes monstrous and untamed elements, whether in mythological contexts—such as the ferocious monsters serving the gods [1]—or in encounters with nature’s savage inhabitants, as seen underground or in the wild [2, 3]. Authors also use ferocious to reveal the inner temperament of individuals, from moments of violent anger or resolve [4, 5] to a captivating blend of brutality and raw emotion in human expressions [6, 7]. In this way, ferocious not only amplifies physical and emotional intensity but also deepens the reader's engagement with the contrast between civilization and nature’s unbridled force [8, 9].
- It is clear that in both the Egyptian and Assyrian cosmogonies the upper [ 113 ] gods had in their employ many ferocious monsters.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway - And there we were alone, far down in the bowels of the earth, at the mercy of its ferocious inhabitants!
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - I looked again: there was no doubt about it; I could catch the glare of their ferocious eyes.
— from She by H. Rider Haggard - I clung to my ferocious habits, yet half despised them; I continued my war against civilization, and yet entertained a wish to belong to it.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - But he also was spurred on by a ferocious desire of vengeance.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - [In his paternal and ferocious voice, hissing his s's.]
— from The Silver Box: A Comedy in Three Acts by John Galsworthy - So you’ve been enjoying yourself?” broke from her with ferocious irony.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Thence he passed to the huge and ferocious bird, the phororachus, and to the great elk which still roams upon this upland.
— from The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle - "Raphael mai amech izabi almi," Began to clamour the ferocious mouth, To which were not befitting sweeter psalms.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri
