Literary notes about much (AI summary)
The word "much" has long served as a flexible intensifier in literature, expressing degree, quantity, or extent depending on the context. Authors use it to heighten emotional states or to emphasize measurements and comparisons. For example, Dostoyevsky in [1] and Richardson in [2] show how "much" underscores emotional overload, while Austen’s [3] and Tolstoy’s [4] employ it to qualify and compare states of being. In works ranging from classical texts like Aristotle’s [5] and Plato’s [6] to more modern narratives like those by Dickens [7] and Wilde [8], "much" quantifies everything from physical attributes to abstract virtues. This versatility makes it a compact yet powerful term that enriches descriptions and deepens the reader's understanding of characters and circumstances across diverse literary genres.
- The very rustle of it is too much for me.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - 'Tis too much, too much; I can't bear it.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - It is much better, far preferable.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen - “If you do not understand these sentiments,” he seemed to be saying, “so much the worse for you!”
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - On these points then let it suffice to have denned thus much.
— from The Ethics of Aristotle by Aristotle - Thus much, however, I beg of them.
— from Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Plato - I am much obliged to you for bringing us together.
— from A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - And of course a man who is much talked about is always very attractive.
— from The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde
