Literary notes about artless (AI summary)
Literary authors often employ “artless” to evoke a sense of innate simplicity and sincere candor. The word may describe an unrefined and straightforward emotional state, as seen when anger is rendered without pretense or hypocrisy [1], or when a character’s natural innocence and unstudied charm captivate the reader [2],[3]. It is also used to contrast unadorned, pure expressions with the superiority of refined artifice, lending narratives an ironic or critical edge [4],[5]. Whether characterizing a naive countenance or a candid remark that cuts through affectation, “artless” serves to highlight the unembellished beauty and earnestness of human behavior.
- There was a relish in his anger; it was artless, earnest, quite unreasonable, but never hypocritical.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - Such is the fate of artless maid, Sweet flow'ret of the rural shade!
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - The loveliness of Eleonora was that of the Seraphim; but she was a maiden artless and innocent as the brief life she had led among the flowers.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - His tales and traditions afford an artless picture of the men and the times.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - It may be said, that the writers, to whom I chiefly appeal, are, in great measure, dry and artless, without any grace and ornament to recommend them.
— from A New System; or, an Analysis of Antient Mythology. Volume 1 (of 6) by Jacob Bryant
