Literary notes about pounding (AI summary)
The term “pounding” in literature functions on multiple levels, from evoking visceral physicality to signaling internal emotional intensity. It is used to depict powerful, repeated forces—whether the literal pounding on a door that creates suspense and anxiety ([1], [2]) or the beating of a heart that mirrors the character’s fear or excitement ([3], [4], [5]). Writers also employ the word to illustrate laborious, rhythmic manual work, as when characters pound rice or coffee in a mortar to ground their everyday actions in tactile detail ([6], [7], [8]). Even in more figurative applications, such as the relentless and overwhelming nature of a confrontation, “pounding” effectively conveys both intensity and immediacy ([9], [10]).
- Finally, I was peed out and cried out and the guy was pounding on the door.
— from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - At the street door the pounding blows succeeded each other in quick succession, but apparently without effect.
— from Marietta: A Maid of Venice by F. Marion (Francis Marion) Crawford - Heart pounding, I reached the shore safely.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - The silence was further disturbed only by the pounding of my heart.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - "Are we at the pole?" I asked the captain, my heart pounding.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Another day I came upon a party of local natives from Sanaroa, who were pounding sago pulp out of a palm, and sluicing it with water.
— from Argonauts of the Western Pacific by Bronislaw Malinowski - 1813—A United States patent is granted Alexander Duncan Moore, New Haven, Conn., on a mill for grinding and pounding coffee.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - Malay women husk rice by pounding it in a mortar with a wooden pestle.
— from Malay Magic by Walter William Skeat - Presently the confusion took form, and through the fog of battle Tom appeared, seated astride the new boy, and pounding him with his fists.
— from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain - But, to make matters worse, the fat woman had the upper hand and was pounding Melie for all she was worth.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
