Literary notes about how (AI summary)
In literature the word "how" functions as a versatile device, serving both as a means of comparison and exclamation as well as an interrogative prompt. Authors often employ it to intensify descriptions or evoke emotion, as seen in Joyce’s reflective exclamation in [1] ("How simple and beautiful was life after all!") and Shelley's dramatic contrast in [2] ("Alas, how great was the contrast between us!"). In dialogue, "how" frequently introduces inquiries that deepen character interaction or reveal inner doubt—as in Tolstoy’s questioning in [3] ("How do you do, my dear boy?") and Shakespeare’s probing in [4] ("How do you, Malvolio?"). It is also used to invite readers to evaluate abstract qualities, whether in describing the beauty of nature, as seen in [5] ("How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!"), or in contemplating mysterious situations highlighted in [6] and [7]. Overall, "how" acts as a powerful linguistic tool that enhances both narrative tone and thematic resonance across a diverse range of literary styles.
- How simple and beautiful was life after all!
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - Alas, how great was the contrast between us!
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - How do you do, my dear boy?
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - How do you, Malvolio?
— from Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will by William Shakespeare - How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!
— from Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman - How any man living was to have seen things in their true light, in such a situation as mine was at the time, I don’t profess to know.
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - I ’s mighty wicked, any how.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
