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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.
  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. And what an utter intellectual stagnation it reveals!
    — from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. Political stagnation was mistaken for stability.
    — from A Diplomat in Japan by Ernest Mason Satow
  9. 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

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