Literary notes about tristful (AI summary)
The term "tristful" is employed in literature to evoke a pervasive sense of melancholic beauty and sorrow. It frequently appears to describe both inner emotional states and outward appearances, suggesting a deep-seated gloom or reflective sadness. Authors use it to hint at a sensitive, almost wistful quality in characters—whether in the soft, sorrowful look in one's eyes [1, 2] or in a countenance weighed down by impending doom [3, 4, 5]. The word also helps to color scenes with a poetic nostalgia, such as the gaze upon a mournful past [6] or the depiction of a figure marked by silent grief [7, 8]. Additionally, its application extends to landscapes and surroundings, where even nature carries a tone of inevitable melancholy [9], underscoring the richness and versatility of "tristful" in literary expression.
- SO TRISTFUL, EYES SO TRISTFUL (OJOS TRISTES, OJOS TRISTES)
— from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Eyes so tristful, yet I dare not Say to what ye have betrayed me.
— from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Yea this solidity and compound mass, With tristful visage as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.”
— from Hints to Husbands: A Revelation of the Man-Midwife's Mysteries by George Morant - Heaven's face doth glow, Yea, this solidity and compound mass With tristful visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.
— from The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times by Alfred Biese - Heaven's face doth glow; Yea, this solidity and compound mass, With tristful visage, as against the doom, Is thought-sick at the act.
— from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare - Let me gaze down the vista of the tristful past.
— from Devil's Dice by William Le Queux - He mounts his horse, rides home tristful, alights heavily, and bids his mother make his bed, for all is over with him.
— from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume 1 (of 5) - Then did Peter's tristful visage lighten somewhat, Vent a watery smile as though inveterate mistrust were thawing.
— from The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert BrowningCambridge Edition by Robert Browning - A marsh it makes, which has the name of Styx, This tristful brooklet, when it has descended Down to the foot of the malign gray shores.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri
