Literary notes about swamp (AI summary)
The word “swamp” in literature is employed both as a literal setting and as a potent metaphor for darker, murkier states of being. In some narratives it denotes a physical area fraught with natural hazards and isolation—as with characters venturing into treacherous, waterlogged landscapes [1, 2, 3]—while in others it symbolizes the overwhelming forces of nature or emotion, capable of engulfing both the land and the spirit [4, 5]. Authors often use the swamp to evoke mystery and transformation, whether by imbuing its air with a peculiar “swamp-perfume” [6] or portraying its inescapable, ominous presence that challenges both human endeavor and resolve [7, 8]. This dual character makes the swamp an enduring and versatile motif in literary works.
- I never went near the house, but struck through the woods and made for the swamp.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - But with regard to this swamp, I have something to tell you.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie - I followed a half a mile; then he struck out over the swamp, and waded ankle deep as much as another half-mile.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - A flood of associations, visions of various ways he had made the acquaintance of women, rushed into his mind and threatened to swamp it.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London - But the general aspect of the swamp was malignant.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - Loud in the pines and cedars dim, Clear in the freshness moist and the swamp-perfume, And I with my comrades there in the night.
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman - And immediately all his weariness vanished, and he walked lightly through the swamp towards the dog.
— from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy - After crossing the bleak, snowy plain, we scrambled over another brook, and entered the great swamp, which occupied two miles of our dreary road.
— from Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie
