Literary notes about whole (AI summary)
The word “whole” serves as a versatile literary device that can denote completeness, entirety, or collective significance. Authors utilize it to highlight totality—whether describing a character’s all-encompassing essence, as in Dostoyevsky’s depiction of a soul being “worth a whole constellation” [1], or to signify an uninterrupted period, such as a day spent in contemplation or action [2, 3, 4]. It can also frame abstract ideas, from referencing the entire human race [5] or the cosmos [6] to stressing the total nature of problems or truths [7, 8]. In each instance, “whole” adapts to context, enriching the narrative by inviting readers to consider characters, events, or ideas as unified and complete manifestations within their respective worlds.
- One such soul, you know, is sometimes worth a whole constellation.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The translation of the depositions occupied me for the whole of the succeeding day.
— from A Diplomat in Japan by Ernest Mason Satow - I spent the whole afternoon drinking with him and so home.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys - This whole winter, instead of being spent in study, as you promised yourself, has been consumed in my sick room.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Gracious Creator of the whole human race!
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft - I believe rather that we stand in much the same relation to the whole of the universe as our canine and feline pets do to the whole of human life.
— from Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking by William James - father, that is the whole truth on't.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding - “That is the kernel of the whole matter.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
