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Literary notes about graceless (AI summary)

The term “graceless” in literature has been used with striking versatility, often serving as an insult, a descriptor of moral or physical deficiency, or even as a character’s proper name. In some works it underscores a lack of physical elegance or refinement—as seen when characters are scathingly labeled for their clumsiness or uncouth behavior ([1], [2], [3])—while in others it emphasizes a moral void or unsophisticated nature ([4], [5], [6]). Intriguingly, authors sometimes play with irony and transformation; for example, in Bunyan’s works a character initially known as Graceless eventually assumes a new identity reflecting redeemed qualities ([7], [8], [9]). Thus, “graceless” oscillates between literal and figurative interpretations, demonstrating the flexible and evocative power of language across diverse literary landscapes ([10], [11]).
  1. Solemnly swear to me that he's not a fast man; that it is all lies they say about him!" "But, miss, how can I say he is not if—" "You graceless girl!
    — from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
  2. How graceless, inconvenient, and in the way of conversation!
    — from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley
  3. —You had better get your stick and go out to the others, Stephen said as he followed towards the door the boy’s graceless form.
    — from Ulysses by James Joyce
  4. 'A shattered graceless fellow, stretched at his length here, and next to nothing for you when you are a young widow.'
    — from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
  5. A plague rot thee, thou old fool and doting sot, how graceless and unpleasant thou art!
    — from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
  6. It’s yon flaysome, graceless quean, that’s witched our lad, wi’ her bold een and her forrard ways—till—Nay!
    — from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  7. My name is now Christian, but my name at the first was Graceless; I came of the race of Japheth, whom God will persuade to dwell in the tents of Shem.
    — from The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come by John Bunyan
  8. My name is now Christian, but my name at the first was Graceless.
    — from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read by John Bunyan
  9. yes; he dwelt in Graceless, [187] a town about two miles off of Honesty, and he dwelt next door to one Turnback.
    — from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read by John Bunyan
  10. Now Rhun was the most graceless man in the world, and there was neither wife nor maiden with whom he had held converse, but was evil spoken of.
    — from The Mabinogion
  11. I was bound to show some feeling, if I would not be a graceless shrew.
    — from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

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