Literary notes about impending (AI summary)
In literature, the word "impending" is frequently deployed to cast a shadow of inescapable fate or looming disaster, heightening the tension in both narrative and poetic forms. Authors use it to evoke an aura of forewarning, whether hinting at the approach of catastrophic historical events [1, 2] or the sudden onset of personal peril [3, 4]. Its utilization spans a broad spectrum—from the depiction of natural hazards that prick the senses with the promise of a violent storm [5] to the portrayal of existential crises or moral judgments on the horizon [6, 7]. This carefully chosen term amplifies the dramatic tension by framing events as imminent and unavoidable, urging readers to brace themselves for the transformative moments that follow [8, 9].
- These present hardships, intolerable as they might appear, were represented as a slight prelude of the impending calamities.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The apprehensions of the Gauls were derived from the knowledge of the impending and inevitable danger.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Somehow I felt that if he did not go home, he might avoid the impending calamity.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - But as he lay there, suddenly there came to him a feeling as of something terrible impending.
— from White Fang by Jack London - There was the feeling of an impending storm in the air; the smell of the wet earth and the moisture in the wind were all-pervading.
— from The Hungry Stones, and Other Stories by Rabindranath Tagore - Whether to snatch him from impending fate, Or let him bear, by stern Pelides slain, (Good as he is) the lot imposed on man.
— from The Iliad by Homer - He entertained a strong degree of pity for the prisoner, and was seized with an indescribable anxiety to save him from his impending fate.
— from The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - And when they were leaving the city, Vidura gave them some idea of impending danger and how they could come out of it.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - This was said and thought to be ominous of the events impending; indeed, nothing of the kind that happened was allowed to pass without remark.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
