Literary notes about unravel (AI summary)
The word "unravel" in literature has been used to evoke both the literal and metaphorical act of untangling complex ideas, mysteries, and even fate itself. In epic works like the Kalevala [1] and Virgil’s Georgics [2], it captures the image of gradually disentangling ancient wisdom and the origins of a story. In mystery and detective narratives—from Doyle’s investigations in Sherlock Holmes stories [3][4] to the puzzling circumstances in works by Edgar Allan Poe [5][6] and Dumas [7][8]—it signifies the probing and eventual decoding of elaborate enigmas. Meanwhile, in novels by authors such as Braddon [9], Gogol [10], and Dickens [11], "unravel" metaphorically underscores the process of understanding tangled human conditions and social intricacies, while even in historical or philosophical contexts, as seen in Rousseau [12] and Goethe’s Faust [13], it suggests a quest to comprehend the deeper layers of truth that lie hidden beneath the surface.
- Shall I now the end unfasten Of this ball of ancient wisdom, These ancestral lays unravel?
— from Kalevala : the Epic Poem of Finland — Complete - I will trace me back To its prime source the story's tangled thread, And thence unravel.
— from The Georgics by Virgil - "I have come to you, Mr. Holmes," she said, "because you once enabled my employer, Mrs. Cecil Forrester, to unravel a little domestic complication.
— from The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle - Supposing I unravel the whole matter, you may be sure that Gregson, Lestrade, and Co. will pocket all the credit.
— from A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - In 1789 a book was published at Dresden by M. I. F. Freyhere in which another endeavor was made to unravel the mystery.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - He would sport with a syllogism in sipping St. Peray, but unravel an argument over Clos de Vougeot, and upset a theory in a torrent of Chambertin.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - “I am only curious to unravel the mystery to which she is attached.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Blood and anger mounted to his face; he was resolved to unravel the mystery.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - I tell you, my lady, that I am determined to unravel the mystery of George Talboy's death.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. Braddon - As a matter of fact, his greatest joy was to labour at a tangled case, and successfully to unravel it.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol - Be it this history's part, however, to leave them to unravel themselves.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - How can your child know men, when he can neither judge of their judgments nor unravel their mistakes?
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The fact is easy to unravel, Their air's so odd, they've just returned from travel: A single hour they've not been here.
— from Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
