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Literary note (auto-generated)

The word "spurn" has been employed across literature as a versatile term encapsulating rejection, disdain, or deliberate refusal. In works such as Austen’s Emma [1] and Brontë’s Wuthering Heights [2], it conveys a refusal of assistance or pity that underscores a character’s pride or emotional detachment. At the same time, in Shelley’s Frankenstein [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] the term deepens its impact by expressing the profound sorrow of a creature rejected by its creator, evoking themes of alienation and existential despair. Meanwhile, in the varied usages by Robert Burns [9, 10, 11, 12] and Thomas Carlyle [13, 14], "spurn" navigates expressions of contempt or deliberate dismissal in both personal and societal contexts. Even in works like those of Dickens [15, 16] and Dante [17], the word resonates as a powerful marker of separation and repudiation, affirming its multifaceted role in exploring human relationships and moral judgments in literature.
  1. “I will answer for it, that mine thinks herself full as clever, and would spurn any body's assistance.”
    — from Emma by Jane Austen
  2. If I pitied you for crying and looking so very frightened, you should spurn such pity.
    — from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  3. they spurn and hate me.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  4. Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  5. They spurn and hate me.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  6. They spurn and hate me.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  7. Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  8. Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  9. My fathers have fallen to right it; Those fathers would spurn their degenerate son, That name should he scoffingly slight it.
    — from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
  10. As thy day grows warm and high, Life's meridian flaming nigh, Dost thou spurn the humble vale?
    — from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
  11. If thou uncommon merit hast, Yet spurn'd at Fortune's door, man; A look of pity hither cast, For Matthew was a poor man.
    — from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
  12. And I shall spurn as vilest dust
    — from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
  13. We must know the province of it, and confine it there; and even spurn it back, when it wishes to get farther.
    — from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle
  14. We need not spurn it, as we step on it!—Let the Hero rest.
    — from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle
  15. ‘Your brother’s widow and her orphan child spurn the shelter of your roof, and shun you with disgust and loathing.
    — from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  16. Is there no way to rob them of further triumph, and spurn their mercy and compassion?
    — from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  17. And he: ‘Though every hair thou from me shred 100 I will not tell thee, nor my face turn round; No, though a thousand times thou spurn my head.’
    — from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

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