Literary notes about critical (AI summary)
The term "critical" in literature wears many hats, often signaling moments of heightened urgency or decisive turning points as much as denoting the process of incisive analysis. In some works, it conveys a state of crisis or a condition demanding constant vigilance—whether describing nocturnal watchfulness over grave cases ([1]), the precarious state of a government ([2]), or the turning point in a character’s fate ([3], [4]). At other times, it embodies the evaluative spirit of thoughtful inquiry, as seen when a writer or critic meticulously scrutinizes a subject’s nuances ([5], [6], [7]). In this way, "critical" serves as both an indicator of pivotal, high-stakes moments and an emblem of refined intellectual engagement throughout literature.
- These visits varied from an hour or two, to all day or night; for with dear or critical cases I generally watch'd all night.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - The position of the Federal Government then became exceedingly critical.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville - The mysterious influence had been again exerted, and in a critical moment, when they had despaired of it.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - As for Jehan Frollo, he was in a critical position.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - Endnotes Critical Apparatus (“Linenotes”)
— from The Tempest by William Shakespeare - Since a god was only introduced at a critical moment to help the distressed hero, the phrase, "deus ex machina," came to mean a god who rendered aid.
— from The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems by Alexander Pope - He was aware of this trait in himself, and frankly admitted that he was nothing if not critical, and that it was his nature to spy into abuses.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley
