Literary notes about surge (AI summary)
The term surge in literature is a versatile device used to evoke powerful motions both in the natural world and within the human psyche. It often describes the unstoppable force of crashing seas, as in the vivid imagery of rolling ocean waves found in ancient epics ([1], [2], [3]) and lexicons detailing the very nature of billows and waves ([4], [5]). Beyond its literal meaning, surge also powerfully conveys the sudden upwelling of emotions—joy, anger, fear, or even a flood of determination—as characters experience internal torrents that mirror natural phenomena ([6], [7], [8], [9]). This blend of physicality and emotion allows the word to encapsulate moments of overwhelming force, making it a recurrent and evocative element across diverse literary traditions.
- Past sight of shore, along the surge we bound, And all above is sky, and ocean all around;
— from The Odyssey by Homer - "Thus o'er the rolling surge the vessel flies, Till from the waves the AEaean hills arise.
— from The Odyssey by Homer - Then nine long days I plow'd the calmer seas, Heaved by the surge, and wafted by the breeze.
— from The Odyssey by Homer - Κλύδων , ωνος, ὁ, (κλύζω, to dash, surge, like the waves) a wave, billow, surge, Ja. 1.6: whence Κλυδωνίζομαι, to be tossed by waves; met.
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield - Κῦμα, ατος, τό, a wave, surge, billow, Mat. 8.24; 14.24, et al.
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield - However, he managed a feeble smile as she entered, that sent a surge of joy to her heart.
— from Linda Carlton, Air Pilot by Edith Lavell - The snow walls pressed him on every side, and a great surge of fear swept through him—the fear of the wild thing for the trap.
— from The call of the wild by Jack London - It read like a telegram that had been dispatched in a white-hot surge of emotion some two minutes after she had read mine.
— from Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse - She, fixed on death, is revolving craft and crime grimly in her bosom, and swells the changing surge of wrath.
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil
