Literary notes about gaunt (AI summary)
The word "gaunt" in literature is a versatile descriptor that often conveys a sense of stark thinness or a skeletal, worn quality. It is used to evoke not only physical emaciation—a writer laments not being able to read with his gaunt hand [1] or a character appears with a gaunt, worn-out frame [2, 3]—but also a mood of desolation and bleakness in both people and settings, such as gloomy, stripped-down landscapes and architectural forms [4, 5]. Additionally, the term can serve as a familial or titular reference, lending an aura of historical weight and gravitas to characters like John of Gaunt who populate the canvas of dramatic tales [6, 7].
- I cannot read what I have written with this gaunt hand.
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - His gaunt figure with its worn-out clothing seemed no more able than the naked trees to withstand the winter's grip.
— from My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore - The plea was that of a gaunt-faced man of about thirty, who looked the picture of privation and wretchedness.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - The gaunt ground, the skyey roof, the caves offering primitive shelter-all seemed a gracious natural setting for the seraphic saints around me.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave.
— from The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe - The palace Enter RICHARD, JOHN OF GAUNT, with other NOBLES and attendants KING RICHARD.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Such hope have all the line of John of Gaunt!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
