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Literary notes about sprawling (AI summary)

The term "sprawling" in literature is remarkably versatile—it conveys both physical extension and a sense of uncontrolled or natural spread. At times it describes the loose, ungraceful posture of a falling figure or animal, as a master guides a sprawling puppy [1] or a character is sent sprawling to the ground after a blow [2, 3]. In other contexts it paints an image of vast, uncontained spaces, from the endless, unstructured layout of suburbs [4] and urban landscapes that resemble a giant spider's web [5] to the free-flowing, informal quality of handwriting [6]. Such varied applications highlight its ability to evoke both dynamic movement and expansive forms in a rich, evocative manner.
  1. The master with his toe helped one sprawling puppy toward him.
    — from White Fang by Jack London
  2. In a bound, I was on my feet, and easily sent him sprawling to the floor.
    — from My Ántonia by Willa Cather
  3. The board flew up and we flew down, sprawling on the ground.
    — from Atlantic Narratives: Modern Short Stories; Second Series by James Edmund Dunning
  4. Rest rubble, sprawling suburbs, jerrybuilt.
    — from Ulysses by James Joyce
  5. The way seemed interminable, and the streets like the black web of some sprawling spider.
    — from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  6. It was written in a sprawling boyish hand.
    — from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

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