Literary notes about rugged (AI summary)
The term "rugged" serves as a multifaceted descriptor in literature, evoking visions of both untamed landscapes and unyielding character attributes. It paints vivid images of harsh and unspoiled terrains—from towering, snow-capped mountains and craggy coasts to narrow, winding roads that challenge the traveler ([1], [2], [3])—while also characterizing individuals with robust, stalwart features or an unwavering honesty ([4], [5], [6]). Authors often employ the word to bridge the physical and the metaphorical, imbuing natural settings with an almost anthropomorphic toughness or suggesting that a character’s exterior mirrors a resilient inner nature ([7], [8], [9]). This dual usage enriches the narrative, allowing "rugged" to simultaneously create a tangible sense of place and a palpable impression of character.
- This last is thickly covered with rugged mountains, and is separated from the rest of Judæa by the river Jordanes.
— from The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 1 (of 6) by the Elder Pliny - Behind this village, to the west, a barrier of high rugged hills closed the horizon before us, and made the view a most delightfully picturesque one.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Immense and rugged mountains of ice often barred up my passage, and I often heard the thunder of the ground sea, which threatened my destruction.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - He was in his working-dress, and looked rugged enough, but manly withal, and a very fit protector for the blooming little creature at his side.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - As soon as I met Mr. Cleveland I became impressed with his simplicity, greatness, and rugged honesty.
— from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington - A rugged honesty, homeliness, simplicity; a rugged sterling sense and strength.
— from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle - In such a school my disposition became rugged, but firm.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - 26; 'the rugged Pyrrhus, like the Hyrcanian beast,' with 'the rugged Russian bear ... or the Hyrcan tiger' ( Macbeth , iii. iv.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley - Uncle Charles was a hale old man with a well tanned skin, rugged features and white side whiskers.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
