Literary notes about stared (AI summary)
In literature, the word "stared" is a versatile tool that conveys everything from commanding scrutiny to moments of quiet introspection. It can reflect an external force as in the haunting demand that seems to watch and condemn from every street corner [1] or capture an internal confrontation, as when a character locks eyes with both wonder and dread [2]. At times, it punctuates dialogue with a sharp, deliberate intensity, as when a professor’s unyielding glare questions the merit of a pursuit [3], while in other moments it manifests a shared silence filled with mutual understanding or astonishment between characters [4, 5]. Across narratives, this deliberate act of looking not only reveals the characters' inner landscapes but also heightens the atmosphere of the scene, whether it is in silent astonishment at a mysterious phenomenon or in the weight of unspoken judgments [6, 7].
- “SEND BACK THE MONEY!” stared at us from every street corner; “SEND BACK THE MONEY!”
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass - There was no back out now, and I stared the future straight in the face.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - The professor stared: “Have you,” he said, “really spent your time in studying such nonsense?”
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - They stared at each other for what seemed a long, long time.
— from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story - I stared at Gip, and Gip stared at me, and there were our distortions in the magic mirrors, looking very rum, and grave, and quiet…
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - Lawrence stared at me in quite unaffected astonishment.
— from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - But certain facts stared me in the face, and I couldn't go against them."
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
