Literary notes about sprawl (AI summary)
In literature, the term “sprawl” vividly captures both physical and metaphorical states of uncontrolled extension. It is often used to describe a body collapsing or unfolding in an unceremonious manner—as when a character stumbles onto an icy surface [1] or lies languidly in the fields [2]—thereby evoking a sense of vulnerability or relaxed indifference. At the same time, “sprawl” metaphorically illustrates ideas or objects spreading haphazardly, as in the way fantasies might scatter over ceilings and walls [3] or how text is deliberately arranged in a free-form, sprawling manner [4]. This dual usage not only accentuates the physicality of a character’s fall or repose but also reflects a broader, almost organic diffusion of energy or thought across a space.
- Then Keston stumbled and went down in a sprawl on the rough gray ice.
— from Astounding Stories, July, 1931 by Various - How pleasant is it, my boy, to escape occasionally from the society of Congressmen and brigadiers, and take a lazy sprawl in the fragrant fields.
— from The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2 by R. H. (Robert Henry) Newell - All the best French Royal Academicians (so to speak) of twenty years ago had a finger in this pie, and their fantasies sprawl over ceilings and walls.
— from A Wanderer in Paris by E. V. (Edward Verrall) Lucas - The sprawl of its writing was uncouth enough, but not illegible.
— from An Ambitious Woman: A Novel by Edgar Fawcett
