Literary notes about stagnation (AI summary)
In literature, "stagnation" is often employed to evoke a multifaceted sense of stillness and decay that permeates society, the individual mind, and nature itself. Writers use the term to denote physical and systemic inertia—for instance, illustrating a city's lifeless condition where even commerce grinds to a halt [1][2][3]. At the same time, it appears in reflections on human relationships and intellectual rigor, warning that a lack of change or challenge can lead to personal and cultural decay [4][5][6]. Whether portraying the dull stagnation of an unvarying soul [7] or critiquing the political and economic reluctance to progress [8][9], the word functions as a potent metaphor for the inherent dangers of unyielding inaction and the absence of dynamic growth.
- I want rest myself; and there's such utter stagnation in the City nowadays that I can very well afford to give myself a holiday.
— from Charlotte's Inheritance by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon - No attempt was made to do so, and the black men left the city by thousands, bringing about great stagnation in every branch of business.
— from Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells-Barnett - The houses have there an appearance of age, want of repair, and a complete stagnation of commerce.
— from Travels in France during the years 1814-15
Comprising a residence at Paris, during the stay of the allied armies, and at Aix, at the period of the landing of Bonaparte, in two volumes. by Patrick Fraser Tytler - I cannot live with anybody with whom I am always on exactly the same even terms—no rising, no falling, mere stagnation.
— from More Pages from a Journal by William Hale White - And what an utter intellectual stagnation it reveals!
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Mentally she remained in utter stagnation, a condition which the mechanical occupation rather fostered than checked.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - A spot of dull stagnation, without light Or power of movement, seem'd my soul, 'Mid onward-sloping 42 motions infinite Making for one sure goal.
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson - Political stagnation was mistaken for stability.
— from A Diplomat in Japan by Ernest Mason Satow - Afterwards, the merchants fell into a great consternation; a general stagnation in trade ensued.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke