Literary notes about whelm (AI summary)
In literature, "whelm" is employed to convey a sense of total submersion or overwhelming force, frequently drawing on vivid imagery of the sea and natural elements. Its use ranges from describing literal engulfment—such as waves burying a ship or character ([1], [2], [3])—to evoking the inner experiences of despair or overpowering emotion ([4], [5]). Authors often rely on this dynamic verb to merge the tangible and metaphorical, suggesting that powerful external forces or inner sentiments can engulf everything in their path ([6], [7]).
- It is a spirit that delights to ride on the tenth wave , and view it whelm and bury the sufferer for ever.
— from Melmoth the Wanderer, Vol. 2 (of 4) by Charles Robert Maturin - The envious billows sidelong swell to whelm my track; let them; but first I pass.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville - Must I the warriors weep, Whelm'd in the bottom of the monstrous deep?
— from The Odyssey by Homer - For while I gaze my bosom glows, My blood in tides impetuous flows; Hope, fear, and joy alternate roll, And floods of transports 'whelm my soul!
— from The Adventures of Roderick Random by T. Smollett - my crimes are dark and grievous, The huge burthen hard to bear; All the day and night I'm sighing Whelm'd in grief and dark despair.
— from Lays of Ancient Virginia, and Other Poems by James Avis Bartley - Let fall on me her fate, and also crush me,— One ruin whelm both her and me!
— from Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - She called upon them to lift up the sea on their invisible wings, to raise its waves as mountains, and whelm the ships upon its bosom.
— from Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 06
