Literary notes about galling (AI summary)
The word "galling" in literature is often used to evoke feelings of irritation, humiliation, or oppression, functioning both on a literal and metaphorical level. It describes not only the physical pain of an unrelenting assault—as when soldiers face a relentless, irritating fire ([1], [2], [3])—but also the emotional burden of subjugation or betrayal, such as the oppressive yoke of domination or the bitter sting of personal defeat ([4], [5], [6], [7]). Through such vivid imagery, authors convey the deep, often multifaceted discomfort experienced by individuals or groups, enriching their narrative with both physical and psychological dimensions ([8], [9], [10]).
- The troops were assailed from thence by such galling shell and rifle fire that they were eventually forced to retire.
— from South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 2 (of 8) From the Commencement of the War to the Battle of Colenso, 15th Dec. 1899 by Louis Creswicke - But Deck had hemmed him in, and a galling fire from the front and the left brought him to his wit's end.
— from An Undivided Union by Oliver Optic - Fired by the sight, we instantly dashed over the bridge before us in the face of a galling discharge from the enemy.
— from Adventures of a Soldier, Written by Himself Being the Memoirs of Edward Costello, K.S.F. Formerly a Non-Commissioned Officer in the Rifle Brigade, Late Captain in the British Legion, and Now One of the Wardens of the Tower of London; Comprising Narratives of the Campaigns in the Peninsula under the Duke of Wellington, and the Subsequent Civil Wars in Spain. by Edward Costello - —In short, the Norman conquest, from the day of the battle of Hastings, brought the Saxon people under a galling yoke.
— from English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English HistoryDesigned as a Manual of Instruction by Henry Coppée - I have on my back the marks of the lash; I have four sisters and one brother now under the galling chain.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass - What does history disclose but marks of inferiority, and how few women have emancipated themselves from the galling yoke of sovereign man?
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft - Nothing could be more galling to a proud man than the feeling that he had been betrayed by his vanity.
— from The Function of the Poet, and Other Essays by James Russell Lowell - So he must bully, only bully, even while it tortured his strong, wholesome nature with shame like a spur always galling.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - She was grateful for the boon; but the idea of having been bought was always galling to a spirit that could never acknowledge itself to be a chattel.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs - No, these would have been too straight and galling, there not being allowance enough made for the infirmities of the people.
— from In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
