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Literary notes about unwieldy (AI summary)

In literary works, “unwieldy” is often employed to evoke a sense of heaviness or clumsiness—whether referring to physical objects, human figures, or even abstract constructs. Authors describe a device or vehicle as “unwieldy” to emphasize its cumbersome, hard-to-manage nature, as when a massive machine or vessel defies easy control [1, 2]. Similarly, characters are occasionally depicted in terms that highlight their awkward bulk, such as a gentleman whose very physicality betrays a lack of grace or agility [3, 4]. Beyond the literal, the adjective also serves as a metaphor for unwieldy organizations or concepts that are too sprawling or complex to operate efficiently, underscoring the challenges inherent in managing vast or overambitious systems [5, 6, 7]. This usage enriches the narrative by subtly conveying the impracticality of certain forms or ideas, thereby deepening the reader's engagement with the text.
  1. By my direction, however, the head of his unwieldy machine was so critically pointed,
    — from Memoirs of Fanny Hill by John Cleland
  2. As the day began to dawn, greyly and drearily, a large, unwieldy Spanish galleon entered the South Sound, about half a league outside of Trawkeera.
    — from Grace O'Malley, Princess and Pirate by Robert Machray
  3. Martin, stout and unwieldy, lost his balance and stumbled over the bench, at which an apprentice was working, and on to the ground.
    — from The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I. by E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus) Hoffmann
  4. ‘The unwieldy old man, lowering his big forehead like an ox under a yoke, made an effort to rise, clutching at the flintlock pistols on his knees.
    — from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
  5. " The telephone arrived in time to prevent big corporations from being unwieldy and aristocratic.
    — from The History of the Telephone by Herbert Newton Casson
  6. Despotism could no longer govern so unwieldy a machine; a republic would be still less likely to hold it together.
    — from The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford — Volume 4 by Horace Walpole
  7. But as long as the American Republic continues united, this unwieldy mass of twenty-four states can never become dangerous.
    — from The Americans as They AreDescribed in a tour through the valley of the Mississippi by Charles Sealsfield

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