Literary notes about frolic (AI summary)
In literature, the word frolic is often used to evoke images of unbridled, playful merriment and light-hearted abandon. It appears both as a term for buoyant, spontaneous activity—whether among children joyfully playing in a garden [1, 2] or in youthful, exuberant gatherings that mix humor with a hint of mischief [3, 4]—and as a descriptor for nature's own whimsical dance, as when the sunbeams seem to frolic over the landscape [5]. Authors also employ the word to contrast spirited levity with more somber or formal tones, highlighting moments when life's routine is set aside for a temporary escape into free and uncontained life [6, 7].
- We had a good frolic this morning out in the garden.
— from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller - She is fond of fun and frolic, and when playing with the rest of the children, her shrill laugh sounds loudest of the group.
— from American Notes by Charles Dickens - Be frolic now, my lads, cheer up your hearts, and joyfully read the rest, with all the ease of your body and profit of your reins.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais - As a result, Anne had the golden summer of her life as far as freedom and frolic went.
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery - The sunbeams frolic over the rugs, the walls, and nurse’s skirts, and seem inviting the children to join in their play, but they take no notice.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - I have been watching the latter the last half hour, on their regular evening frolic over and in the stream; evidently a spree of the liveliest kind.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - Indeed, it is probable that, had she been there, there would have been less cordiality, freedom, and frolic amongst us than there was without her.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
