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Literary notes about genius (AI summary)

Literary usage of the word "genius" spans a wide spectrum—from an almost divine, personified spirit to a descriptor of exceptional human talent. In some works, it is portrayed as a distinct, almost supernatural force that watches over or even taunts a people’s endeavors, as when a "scornful laugh" is attributed to the Genius of a nation ([1]). In other writings, it describes those rare individuals whose exceptional intellect or creative prowess leads them to transgress conventional boundaries, a quality that both elevates and sets them apart from their peers ([2], [3]). At times, the term takes on a more casual, affirming tone to commend cleverness or originality in everyday interactions, even as it is used in more exalted contexts—ranging from stirring national pride to delineating the profound impact of artistic vision ([4], [5], [6]). Thus, genius in literature is as much about the ineffable spark of creativity that transforms society as it is a marker of the extraordinary human spirit.
  1. I think I hear, echoed as from some mountain-top afar in the west, the scornful laugh of the Genius of these States.
    — from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman
  2. The few men of genius among the learned class, who actually did overstep this boundary, anxiously avoided the appearance of having so done.
    — from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  3. One could perhaps discriminate from behind between a blockhead, a fool, and a man of genius.
    — from Essays of Schopenhauer by Arthur Schopenhauer
  4. Woah. "Van, you are a total genius," I said.
    — from Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
  5. how should I forget?—the deep midnight, the Bridge of Sighs, the beauty of woman, and the Genius of Romance that stalked up and down the narrow canal.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe
  6. The genius is often the man who translates the aspirations of his age into ideas; at the sound of his voice a whole nation is moved.
    — from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park

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