Literary notes about swiftly (AI summary)
In literature, "swiftly" is frequently employed to evoke rapid movement or sudden change, imbuing scenes with a sense of immediacy and urgency. It appears in depictions of physical motion—such as a ship cleaving through the swell [1] or characters darting across landscapes [2][3]—as well as in the quick progression of thought or time, suggesting that moments pass with relentless speed [4][5]. The adverb works both literally, as when actions like a door closing or a figure retreating are described, and metaphorically, where it mirrors the fleeting nature of existence [6][7]. Thus, "swiftly" functions as a versatile stylistic tool that accelerates narrative pace and deepens the reader's experience of dynamic action.
- The brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long, cresting swell.
— from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson - Colonel Lysander Stark sprang out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch which gaped in front of us.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Buck hurried on, swiftly and stealthily, every nerve straining and tense, alert to the multitudinous details which told a story—all but the end.
— from The call of the wild by Jack London - My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Here, for instance: My days are swiftly gliding by, and I a pilgrim stranger, Would not detain them as they fly, those hours of toil and danger;
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - National Convention packs them into post-vehicles and conveyances; sends them swiftly, by post, into La Vendee!
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - I forgot him, as I swiftly darted through the open portal, and up the majestic stairs of this castle of victories—heard Adrian's voice—O fool!
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
