Literary notes about ready (AI summary)
Across a variety of literary contexts, "ready" functions as a multifaceted term that denotes not only physical preparedness but also state of mind and the approach of imminent action. In some works, it describes tangible conditions—a ship set for departure [1] or a contraption primed for use [2]—while in others it captures the readiness of characters to engage, whether in battle [3, 4, 5], in service [6, 7], or even in love and vulnerability [8, 9]. The word also serves to heighten the immediacy of events, suggesting that a situation or scene is on the brink of transformation, as when a performance or plot is declared primed to unfold [10, 11]. This versatility, spanning from the preparation of objects and settings [12, 13] to the emotional states of characters [14], underscores the enduring literary power of "ready" as both a descriptor of readiness and a portent of action soon to be taken.
- When the Nautilus was ready to continue its submarine journey, I went down to the saloon.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - Rising to her feet, she opened a secret panel in the wall, and revealed a slow-match ready for lighting.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte - And then he cried and said: Sir knight, make thee ready to joust.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - and if ye be knights-errant that will joust, lo I am ready.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - And the engineer advanced, while his companions, keeping watch about twenty paces behind him, were ready to fire at a moment’s notice.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - But he was ever ready to listen to me; and it became the first duty of my life to say to him, and read to him, what I knew he ought to hear.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - In spite of his clumsiness and rough manner, he was a peaceable man, of infinite kindliness and goodness of heart, always ready to be of use.
— from The Duel and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - I saw her at the Kalatchik fair; I fell madly in love with her, was ready to hang myself. . . .
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Ever ready to do anything for you, sir."
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - At this point Master Pedro came up in quest of Don Quixote, to tell him the show was now ready and to come and see it, for it was worth seeing.
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - “You see,” said she, when the lackey had gone out, “everything is ready.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Riderhood had not done the deed, but had resolved in his malice to turn against her father, the appearances that were ready to his hand to distort.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - And so Captain Nemo would live out his life entirely in the heart of this immense sea, and even his grave lay ready in its impenetrable depths.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Money I have none, and therefore I pay in praise, which is all I have; and how ready 15 S OCRATES , T HRASYMACHUS .
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato
