Literary notes about grim (AI summary)
The term "grim" emerges in literature as a multifaceted descriptor that evokes a sense of harsh inevitability and stark severity. It can paint entire landscapes with an aura of cold desolation, as when icy breath or dark horizons are described [1], [2], and also imbue battle scenes with an air of relentless brutality and foreboding doom [3], [4], [5]. At times, it outlines the resolute determination or defiant stance of a character, encapsulating both somber humor and unyielding resolve [6], [7], [8]. In other cases, the word accentuates the dark charm or mournful ambiance of a scene, hinting at deep inner suffering or grim satisfaction [9], [10], [11]. This versatility allows "grim" to traverse from the depiction of merciless natural phenomena to the portrayal of human fortitude under duress, reflecting a broad spectrum of bleak beauty and relentless fate.
- He is the son of Vasad, and all that race are grim and of icy breath, and winter is like them.
— from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson - Anne looked across the still, white fields, cold and lifeless in the harsh light of that grim sunset, and sighed.
— from Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery - Not in speed of foot, in grim arms, hand to hand, must be the conflict.
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil - Meanwhile the Rutulians press round all the gates, dealing grim slaughter and girdling the walls with flame.
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil - They had closed in grim war's mutual conflict; Aeneas, while night was yet deep, clove the seas.
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil - His character had sunk to an all-time low, he reflected with grim humor as he walked into the shadow of the main building.
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone - With grim impatience of plunder he wished himself to be talking with the man now.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - “If they come after me,” he said; “Lord, if they come after me!” and subsided into a grim meditation.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells - The longer one stays here the more does the spirit of the moor sink into one’s soul, its vastness, and also its grim charm.
— from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle - I looked up, along the cloth, and there at the end, stark and grim and black, in the yellow light—there was his dead face.
— from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - 'This is becoming grim, Mortimer,' said Eugene, in a low voice.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
