Literary notes about lugubrious (AI summary)
Lugubrious is frequently employed in literature to evoke a penetrating sense of melancholy and gravity. Writers use the term to describe settings, characters, voices, or even abstract moods that resonate with somberness. It can designate a physical atmosphere—where a scene’s light or architecture exudes a mournful quality ([1], [2])—or reveal a character’s inner despair, as seen in descriptions of doleful faces or tones that convey hidden sorrow or ironic detachment ([3], [4]). In some works, the word even amplifies dramatic flair during moments of secret joy or foreboding doom, lending an unexpected emotional complexity to the narrative voice ([5], [6]). Overall, lugubrious enriches the texture of literary expression by melding visual and auditory cues into a unified, evocative mood.
- The mise en scène was therefore lugubrious and had its effect upon the merry visitors.
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal - Through the opening was a glimpse of the immensity of the calm sea, the vast immobility of the waters under an almost lugubrious blaze.
— from The Triumph of Death by Gabriele D'Annunzio - “Remain,” she said, in a low, curt, and lugubrious tone, as she pressed the hand of the gypsy, who was more dead than alive.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - Robby’s face is so lugubrious that it is no wonder I have bad dreams.
— from Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery - Thank Heaven, nations are great, independently of the lugubrious feats of the sword.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - “Truly they are,” murmured the count in a lugubrious tone.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
