Literary notes about unsettled (AI summary)
Literary authors deploy “unsettled” to evoke an atmosphere of indeterminacy and flux, whether describing nature, society, or the inner workings of the mind. The term is often used to illustrate the ceaseless unpredictability of weather and landscapes, contributing to a mood of tension and transition, as in depictions of unstable weather or unexplored territory [1], [2], [3], [4]. At the same time, “unsettled” captures the inner discord of characters whose thoughts, emotions, or life circumstances remain unresolved—ranging from a mind thrown into disarray to financial matters left in limbo [5], [6], [7]. In some works, the term underscores broader societal disorder or unresolved scholarly issues, inviting readers to consider the perpetual state of flux that defines both personal experiences and collective conditions [8], [9], [10].
- The weather is extraordinary; it freezes and thaws; it is wet and unsettled.
— from Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 by Emperor of the French Napoleon I - The weather, which had been stormy and unsettled, moderated toward the evening.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - We have a vast tract of unsettled territory within the boundaries of the United States.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - The region west of Beloit, Newark, Avon, Spring Valley, was still wholly unsettled in the summer of 1839.
— from A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States by George T. Flom - The experience unsettled his reason, and the next twelve months were spent in an asylum at St. Alban's.
— from English Literature by William J. Long - Imagination cannot conceive how disjointed I was—how internally, externally and universally I was unsettled, mixed up and ruptured.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain - If I get a little thin, it is with anxiety about my prospects, yet unsettled—my departure, continually procrastinated.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - People wish to be settled: only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - But a whole mass of unsettled points and uncertainties remained.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - But these questions are of too much importance to be allowed to remain long unsettled.”
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
