Literary notes about irksome (AI summary)
Across a range of literary works, "irksome" is employed to convey a sense of weariness, tediousness, or vexation with various aspects of life. At times, it describes the burdens of daily duties and mundane tasks—for instance, tedious work that seems increasingly unbearable ([1], [2])—while in other contexts it captures the discomfort of social interactions or unfavourable relationships ([3], [4]). The term also serves to underline the paradoxical beauty found in irritating circumstances, as when a distant noise is transformed into a proud satire of life’s meanness ([5]). Ultimately, authors use "irksome" not merely to denote annoyance, but to evoke a deeper commentary on the human condition and the sometimes oppressive nature of our routines ([6], [7]).
- Hard work becomes more and more irksome and repulsive, until work seems drudgery to him.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - Though I found no pleasure in it, it would be less irksome than idleness—at all events it would be more profitable.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - Mr. Collins to be sure was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - Many an irksome noise, go a long way off, is heard as music, a proud, sweet satire on the meanness of our lives.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau - Why, then, does he make these long journeys, which must be exceedingly irksome to him, and who is it that he visits?”
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - So much trouble and attention will at last become irksome.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
