Literary notes about toiling (AI summary)
In literature, the word "toiling" emerges as a vivid descriptor of both physical and metaphorical exertion, symbolizing the weary, often heroic effort required to navigate life's difficulties. It is used to portray everything from the grueling physical labor of common folk—whether depicted as the relentless climbing of hills [1] or the ceaseless work in fields and workshops [2, 3]—to the inner turbulence and unremitting mental struggle experienced by characters wrestling with their destinies [4, 5]. The term can emphasize noble persistence, as when the labor of an individual is elevated to a higher, almost existential purpose [6, 7], or it may reveal the devastating toll of constant hardship on the human spirit [8]. Overall, "toiling" conveys an enduring, multifaceted effort that captures both the dignity and the burden of relentless work across a broad literary spectrum [9, 10, 11].
- There he was, sure enough, a small urchin with a little bundle upon his shoulder, toiling slowly up the hill.
— from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle - [273] One day, after toiling hard afield, they sat down under a bush to eat their last morsel of bread.
— from Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore - His Father, a poor toiling man, tried various things; did not succeed in any; was involved in continual difficulties.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle - It was a night of little ease to his toiling mind, toiling in mere darkness and besieged by questions.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - It was a night of little ease to his toiling mind, toiling in mere darkness and beseiged by questions.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - The cxx man is mean, saving, toiling, 554 the slave of one passion which is the master of the rest: Is he not the very image of the State?
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - “Is this what I’ve worked for, year after year, toiling and saving, that you by your stupidity may throw away the fruits of my labor?”
— from The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal - But can that hour of singing and shouting sustain them through the dreary week, toiling without wages, under constant dread of the lash?
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - Thirdly, The ardour of lechery is very much subdued and mated by frequent labour and continual toiling.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais - Two million of your children are toiling to-day in this trader-oligarchy of the United States.
— from Martin Eden by Jack London - "For every worm beneath the moon Draws different threads, and late and soon Spins, toiling out his own cocoon.
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson
