Literary notes about unwind (AI summary)
The term "unwind" in literature serves a dual role, referring both to a physical act of disentangling and a metaphorical process of release or relaxation. Often, writers deploy it to describe the literal uncoiling of objects—a thread being pulled free from a spool [1] or a rope being released [2]—while also using it to depict the gradual unraveling of intricate plots or emotional tensions, as when a character's thoughts or circumstances slowly come apart [3] or when tension is eased through a moment of respite [4]. In some narratives, the word even evokes natural imagery, capturing the elegant, almost hypnotic unfurling of smoke or scenery [5], or illustrating the symbolic untangling of fate itself [6].
- He had taken a seat at my work-table; he now laid hands on a reel of thread which he proceeded recklessly to unwind.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - "I'll not wait till more comes--give it me here--unwind the rope, and see how long it is--go on--unwind!"
— from The Vulture Maiden [Die Geier-Wally.] by Wilhelmine von Hillern - “Bernard has more in that wary head of his than your young wits, or my old ones, can unwind.
— from The Little Duke: Richard the Fearless by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge - Here one could sit and read or talk, take a bath at sixpence a time, enjoy a film or otherwise relax and unwind.
— from Coming of Age: 1939-1946 by John Cox - Esteban, from his saddle, saw the first wisps of smoke arise and grow and unwind into long ribbons, reaching deep into the standing crop.
— from Rainbow's End by Rex Beach - Nicolas Lavilette had begun to unwind the coil of fortune and ambition which his mother had long been engaged in winding.
— from The Pomp of the Lavilettes, Volume 2 by Gilbert Parker
