Literary notes about iteration (AI summary)
In literature, the term "iteration" is often employed to denote the act of repeating words, phrases, or motifs—sometimes to imbue a scene with emphasis, rhythmic structure, or even a sense of monotony. Writers have used it to mirror emotional states, as when a character's repeated declaration intensifies their passion, as seen with a thrice-repeated assertion in one passage [1] or the wearisome repeat of a nursery rhyme [2]. At times, authors describe the repetition itself as a burdensome, nearly mechanical process—a ceaseless echo that can heighten despair or signal the relentless passage of time [3, 4]. Moreover, iteration can serve as a tool for highlighting irony and emphasizing differences between a repeated element and its intended effect, suggesting that repetition might sometimes generate more heat than progress, as implied in the nuanced discussions of its effects [5, 6].
- Her reply had been the one iteration: “I love him—I love him—I love him.
— from The Right of Way — Complete by Gilbert Parker - Once, the rhyme that came to my lips—for I am sure there was no mind in the iteration—was the simple nursery prayer—
— from Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, and His Romaunt Abroad During the War by George Alfred Townsend - “It was with weary iteration I had said those words, and wept till tears came no more, and a dull, stolid feeling of despair had come upon me.
— from Friends I Have Made by George Manville Fenn - The seasons, in endless succession and iteration, passed over the ship.
— from Prue and I by George William Curtis - Iteration, like friction, is likely to generate heat instead of progress, and Mr. Tulliver's heat was certainly more and more palpable.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - — N. duplication; doubling &c. v.; gemination, ingemination[obs3]; reduplication; iteration &c. (repetition) 104; renewal.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget
