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Literary notes about medley (AI summary)

The term medley is frequently employed to evoke a complex, often heterogeneous mixture that enhances both atmosphere and meaning in literature. Writers use it to describe a blend of sounds or visual elements, as in the vivid portrayal of a burst of noise from a ship’s hold [1] or the array of colours enlivening a room’s décor [2]. In narrative and character sketches, medley captures the convergence of diverse ideas, emotions, or social types—from the clash of life’s struggles [3] and the intermingling of historical, religious, and astrological themes [4] to the depiction of groups comprising different classes and cultures [5]. Whether illustrating the chaotic interweaving of thoughts [6] or the nuanced layering of sensory impressions [7][8], the word medley allows authors to convey a rich, sometimes discordant amalgam of components that reflect the multifaceted nature of human experience.
  1. All at once a violent commotion, accompanied by a medley of sounds, came from the fore part of the hold.
    — from The Quest of the 'Golden Hope': A Seventeenth Century Story of Adventure by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
  2. The walls, covered with specimens of old earthenware, displayed a gay medley of colours, reminding one of cheap coloured prints.
    — from His Masterpiece by Émile Zola
  3. I am among them, among their battling bodies in a medley, the joust of life.
    — from Ulysses by James Joyce
  4. The work is thus a medley of religion, history, and astrology, and in its explanations of customs may be compared to the Αἴτια of Callimachus.
    — from The Student's Companion to Latin Authors by Thomas Ross Mills
  5. The people of the place are themselves poor creatures; and are a great medley of different classes.
    — from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano
  6. THE SINS OF THE PAST: (In a medley of voices.)
    — from Ulysses by James Joyce
  7. As for the walls, they were hung with a medley of pictures.
    — from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol
  8. You behold around you, it is true, a medley of architectural embellishments.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe

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