Literary notes about querulous (AI summary)
The word "querulous" has been used in literature to evoke a sense of irritable discontent, often capturing the character’s emotional strain or the prevailing mood of a scene. Authors such as Thomas Carlyle and Arthur Conan Doyle use the term to underscore escalating complaints or outbursts—Roland’s increasingly hysterical tone in his letters ([1]) and a sharp, expressive cry ([2]) demonstrate this vividly. In other works, querulous describes a pervasive underlying melancholy or discomfort, whether in the wandering, uneasy spirit of a voluntary exile ([3]), the weary grief of familial loss ([4]), or even the plaintive sound of a newborn’s cry ([5]). Its application extends beyond individual characters to define atmospheres, as seen in the soft, discontented voices in academic settings ([6]) and everyday interactions ([7], [8], [9]), making querulous a versatile descriptor that has enriched literary portrayals of human and natural complaint across genres.
- Roland grows ever more querulous, in his Messages and Letters; rising almost to the hysterical pitch.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Suddenly, however, he broke out into a sharp, querulous cry.
— from The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle - He wanders from place to place, a voluntary exile, always querulous, always uneasy, always alone.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - But Adam did not come down again; he was too weary and worn-out to encounter more of his mother's querulous grief, and he went to rest on his bed.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot - A querulous newborn female infant crying to cause and lessen congestion.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - In the middle of the hall the prefect of the college sodality was speaking earnestly, in a soft querulous voice, with a boarder.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - One gets unsettled, depressed, and inclined to be querulous.
— from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame - I don’t feel as if it was worth while to turn my hand over for anything, and I’m getting dreadfully fretful and querulous.
— from The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - “I'm going,” she said, in a voice of querulous weakness, “but don't say anything about it.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte
