Literary notes about rhapsody (AI summary)
The term “rhapsody” in literature frequently conveys a sense of spontaneous, passionate expression that blurs the boundaries between music and emotion. Writers invoke it to describe both literal musical compositions—with titles and allusions to grand orchestral works ([1], [2], [3])—and metaphorical outpourings of feeling or imaginative fervor in prose and dialogue ([4], [5], [6], [7]). It can denote an elaborate, almost improvisational cascade of words that elevates a narrative to a higher plane of creative expression ([8], [9], [10]), while at other moments it marks a deliberate lyrical interlude that reflects the inner workings of a character or a thematic journey ([11], [12], [13]). This versatility allows “rhapsody” to enrich literary language, serving as both a tribute to musicality and a metaphor for wild, unfettered creativity.
- 10. First Modern Suite , for piano (1883): Præladium--Presto--Andantino and Allegretto--Intermezzo--Rhapsody--Fugue Op. 11.}
— from Edward MacDowell: A Study by Lawrence Gilman - Leo Schulz's "American Rhapsody," for violoncello and orchestra, produced by the Philharmonic Society, New York City, with the composer as soloist.
— from Annals of Music in America: A Chronological Record of Significant Musical Events by Henry Charles Lahee - It was the Hungarian Rhapsody, impetuous and brilliant as ever.
— from Tales of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett - Her soul was in tune with the singer's rhapsody.
— from A Modern Madonna by Caroline Abbot Stanley - The nymph, whose passions nature had filled to the brim, could not hear such a rhapsody unmoved.
— from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. Smollett - " It is enough to say, without applying this poetical rhapsody to Aouda, that she was a charming woman, in all the European acceptation of the phrase.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne - The rhapsody welled up within me, like blood from an inward wound, and gushed out.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - A man may indulge in a sham rhapsody, because it may be the triumph of a rhapsody to be unintelligible.
— from Twelve Types by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton - It was one long rhapsody, and rhapsodies are apt to be a little tiresome to those other than the rhapsodists.
— from The Deaves Affair by Hulbert Footner - Was it the rhapsody of self-hypnotism, which ancients would have called vision?
— from The Freebooters of the Wilderness by Agnes C. Laut - Amyas answered this rhapsody, which would have been then both fashionable and sincere, by a loyal chuckle.
— from Westward Ho! Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the County of Devon, in the Reign of Her Most Glorious Majesty Queen Elizabeth by Charles Kingsley - The rhapsody, although genuine enough, was not satisfying to the wife.
— from Making People Happy by Thompson Buchanan - Without this, metaphysics is mere rhapsody, in which no one knows whether he has enough, or whether and where something is still wanting.
— from Kant's Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics by Immanuel Kant
