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Literary notes about forsake (AI summary)

The word "forsake" is deployed to heighten the emotional stakes and moral dilemmas in literature, functioning as a potent marker of abandonment, loyalty, or rejection. In sacred and poetic works, it often invokes a divine or solemn appeal—urging believers not to be deserted by God, as in appeals for steadfast companionship and protection [1],[2],[3],[4]; while in narrative prose it can underscore the pain of parting or the burden of renunciation, reflecting both personal loss and the breaking of bonds [5],[6],[7]. In epic and philosophical texts, "forsake" is likewise employed to illustrate a turning point—where characters consciously abandon old ways to embrace new duties or values [8],[9],[10]. Thus, across genres, this evocative term enriches the language of commitment and sacrifice.
  1. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  2. If you seek him, you shall find: but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  3. You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land, 5:8.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  4. Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall fail, do not thou forsake me.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  5. I will never risk becoming your executioner; but reckon on me, I will not forsake you.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  6. For I had rather die than see her thus.— Wilt thou forsake me too in my distress, Seduced daughter?—Go, forget not.—
    — from The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe
  7. Help me and do not forsake me unless I give you just cause to do so.
    — from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo by Juliette Drouet and Louis Guimbaud
  8. It were an idle humour to essay, now that I am about to forsake the commerce of men, to offer myself to them by a new recommendation.
    — from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne
  9. I wonder if I should forsake my natural mission if I were to settle in Florence.”
    — from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James
  10. “Oh, no,—no, not yet,” he cried; “do not forsake me!
    — from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet

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