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Literary notes about powers (AI summary)

The term "powers" in literature is used with remarkable flexibility, shifting in meaning according to context, genre, and purpose. In some works it conveys physical strength or mental capability, as when Bering exerts his "last powers" to save a ship ([1]) or a child overestimates his "powers" in risky play ([2]). Elsewhere, authors extend the idea of powers to encompass moral, supernatural, or even institutional forces. For instance, Robert Burns questions the authority of "moral powers and reason" ([3]), while political treatises like The Federalist Papers discuss the distribution of governmental powers ([4], [5]). Meanwhile, in mythic or poetic texts, "powers" can imply divine influence and the natural order, such as the celestial forces shaping destiny in Homer’s Odyssey ([6], [7]). This diversity illustrates how the word "powers" serves as a multifaceted symbol for both human ability and broader cosmic or societal dynamics.
  1. When Bering exerted his last powers to prevent the stranding of the St. Peter, he struggled for life.
    — from Vitus Bering: the Discoverer of Bering Strait by Peter Lauridsen
  2. In reality the child at first overestimates his powers and behaves fearlessly because he does not recognize dangers.
    — from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
  3. What signifies his barren shine, Of moral powers an' reason?
    — from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
  4. In some instances, as has been shown, the powers of the new government will act on the States in their collective characters.
    — from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison
  5. For I agree, that "there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers."(2)
    — from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison
  6. The good they hated, and the powers defied!
    — from The Odyssey by Homer
  7. This is the truth: and oh, ye powers on high!
    — from The Odyssey by Homer

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