Literary notes about spirited (AI summary)
The word "spirited" is employed with remarkable versatility in literature, often capturing both physical liveliness and the emotional state of characters. In some passages it conveys a sense of vigorous action or artistic flair, such as a performance or a musical accompaniment being described as lively and full of vigor [1, 2]. In other contexts, it reflects inner feelings, ranging from high-spirited enthusiasm and bravery [3, 4] to low-spirited melancholy and discontent [5, 6, 7]. It can also evoke the dynamic temperaments of animals—swift, fiery horses that seem to embody life itself [8, 9, 10]—or be used in metaphor to intensify debates and political or social discussions [11, 12]. Thus, across various genres and settings, "spirited" functions as a key descriptor, adeptly capturing both external energy and internal mood.
- You had a spirited performance always going on before your eyes, with nothing to pay.
— from The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 2 by Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb - “Sing!” said she, and again touching the piano, she commenced an accompaniment in spirited style.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - They are almost all of them noble figures, too,—affectionate, frank, brave, high-spirited, 'of an open and free nature' like Shakespeare's best men.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley - His masters, even when they had not attracted him, had seemed to him always intelligent and serious priests, athletic and high-spirited prefects.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - He felt low-spirited and vexed at having yielded to that new longing, and at having broken through his usual habits.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - I feel strangely sad and low-spirited to-day.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - He seemed very low-spirited; I knew that by his voice.
— from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - The horses were noble-looking beasts, not so sleek and combed as our Boston stable-horses, but with fine limbs, and spirited eyes.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana - The animal was fiery and spirited; they galloped round the lawn.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - ‘You shall likewise have a suit of red armour for the occasion, and ride on a spirited chestnut-horse.’
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - Upon one question, however, a prolonged and spirited debate occurred.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - After a spirited discussion, this resolution was rejected.
— from The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) by Ida Husted Harper
