Literary notes about tremble (AI summary)
The term “tremble” is masterfully employed across a range of literary works to convey both physical sensation and emotional intensity. It frequently denotes a bodily reaction—a subtle, involuntary quiver that betrays inner turmoil or anticipation, as seen when a character’s lip or hand shudders in anxiety ([1], [2], [3]), or when even the mere thought of a daunting task makes someone’s hand shake with nervousness ([4], [5]). At times, it evokes vast natural or cosmic forces, capturing a landscape or the very foundations of existence as they quiver before overwhelming power ([6], [7], [8]), or imbuing the scene with an almost mythic sense of grandeur as in celestial bodies trembling at the approach of fate ([9], [10]). In other instances, trembling symbolizes a deep emotional response—ranging from terror and grief to ecstatic delight—in which the physical tremor mirrors internal states of passion or fear ([11], [12], [13]). Overall, the word serves as a versatile metaphor that bridges the tangible and the ineffable in literature.
- Looby's face grew pale, and his nether lip began to tremble.
— from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. Smollett - Bobbie jumped forward and caught it up, and waved it; her hands did not tremble now.
— from The Railway Children by E. Nesbit - His thin legs had begun to tremble and turn weak, causing his small body to reel.
— from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane - For nearly thirteen years past, I have never once written to you without feeling my hand tremble and my eyes fill.
— from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo by Juliette Drouet and Louis Guimbaud - The idea alone of a step to take, a letter to write, or a word to say, made me tremble.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Heaven and earth tremble with fear when Indra smites Vṛitra like a tree with his bolt.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell - The island appeared to tremble to its very foundation.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - Heaven and earth themselves bow down before him, Before his might the very mountains tremble.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell - There shrines and palaces and towers (Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - Where I sorrow, springs the alder; Where I tremble, sprouts the aspen; Where I weep, the pine is verdant; Where I suffer, sighs the birch-tree.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - “I should hope not; but really when I look around among my acquaintance, I tremble.
— from Emma by Jane Austen - she cried with earnestness, "I will—I will tell you the truth—all the truth; I am glad to tell you—glad, though I tremble."
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - Old wishes, ghosts of broken plans, And phantom hopes assemble; And that child's heart within the man's Begins to move and tremble.
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson