Literary notes about bereft (AI summary)
The term “bereft” is used across literature to underscore a sense of profound loss or deprivation, whether of life, reason, joy, or other vital qualities. Authors employ it to evoke not only emotional desolation but also tangible absence, as when characters are depicted as bereft of speech or life ([1], [2], [3]). In works ranging from ancient epic poetry to modern novels, “bereft” intensifies the portrayal of isolation and mourning, as seen in the lamentations over lost affection and abandoned homes ([4], [5], [6]). It similarly denotes the stripping away of essential support or virtues—be it reason, compassion, or even the beauty of the natural world—thereby stressing the stark void that shadows the character’s existence ([7], [8], [9]). This layered and versatile usage, evident throughout various narratives, continues to serve as a powerful literary device to mirror the inner and outer desolation experienced by individuals.
- But he had no time to say another word before Aglaya’s terrible look bereft him of speech.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Likewise the terrible dragon, his slayer, lay there bereft of life and pressed sore by ruin.
— from The Story of Beowulf, Translated from Anglo-Saxon into Modern English Prose - O boy, thy father gave thee life too soon, And hath bereft thee of thy life too late!
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - As all partings foreshadow the great final one, so, empty rooms, bereft of a familiar presence, mournfully whisper what your room
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - Bereft of all affection, she went away, cast me there as if I were the child of somebody else.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - Here he lurked about like a spectre among the scenes of former power and prosperity, now bereft of home, of family, and of friend.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - The sense of the question is assuredly nothing but this: "How is it possible to be so utterly bereft of compassion?"
— from The Basis of Morality by Arthur Schopenhauer - I shall still have the courage necessary to bear my life as it will be, when bereft of happiness and laughter.
— from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo by Juliette Drouet and Louis Guimbaud - Not being entirely bereft of prudence, he had discarded boots and stockings and borrowed Tommy Cotton’s overalls.
— from Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery
