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The word "ravenous" has been used in literature to evoke an intense, almost uncontrollable appetite, whether literal or metaphorical. In some texts, it vividly portrays wild animals or instinctual, bestial hunger, as seen in the startled animals in Edgar Allan Poe’s works ([1], [2], [3], [4]) and the ferocious pack in Dante’s imagery ([5], [6]). At times, authors use "ravenous" to characterize human desires and impulses—ranging from the physical hunger illustrated in Jules Verne’s adventure ([7], [8]) and Lewis Carroll’s whimsical account ([9]) to the metaphorical hunger for power and news noted by figures like Thomas Carlyle and in works by Oscar Wilde ([10], [11]). Even in narratives directed toward younger audiences, such as Frances Hodgson Burnett’s stories ([12], [13], [14], [15], [16]), the term deepens the portrayal of both literal need and the underlying intensity of emotion. This versatility of "ravenous" across genres underlines its enduring power as a descriptor of overwhelming need and primal urgency ([17], [18]).
  1. At first the ravenous animals were startled and terrified at the change—at the cessation of movement.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
  2. They were wild, bold, ravenous; their red eyes glaring upon me as if they waited but for motionlessness on my part to make me their prey.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
  3. Even then, while I gazed, they came up in troops, hurriedly, with ravenous eyes, allured by the scent of the meat.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
  4. At first the ravenous animals were startled and terrified at the change—at the cessation of movement.
    — from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe
  5. Behind them through the forest onward swept A pack of dogs, black, ravenous, and fleet, Like greyhounds from their leashes newly slipped.
    — from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
  6. Behind them was the forest full of black She-mastiffs, ravenous, and swift of foot As greyhounds, who are issuing from the chain.
    — from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri
  7. When, however, I had almost quenched my ravenous thirst, I made a discovery.
    — from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
  8. I was cold, but even that did not affect me so much as ravenous hunger.
    — from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
  9. His appetite was most ravenous, and his powers of digestion quite wonderful.
    — from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
  10. Heads of Districts are in fervent consultation; subordinate Patriotism roams distracted, ravenous for arms.
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  11. He had mad hungers that grew more ravenous as he fed them.
    — from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  12. The sound in the hoarse, ravenous voice was awful.
    — from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  13. She had never confessed that at times she was almost ravenous with hunger, as she was tonight.
    — from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  14. She was too ravenous to give any thanks, even if she had ever been taught politeness—which she had not.
    — from A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  15. There now," and he pushed the rubber tip of the bottle into the nuzzling mouth and the lamb began to suck it with ravenous ecstasy.
    — from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  16. There now,” and he pushed the rubber tip of the bottle into the nuzzling mouth and the lamb began to suck it with ravenous ecstasy.
    — from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  17. Here is the gaping calamity I meant: I cannot shut their ravenous appetites A moment more now.
    — from Lysistrata by Aristophanes
  18. Nothing but ravenous hunger could induce us to swallow it.
    — from Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

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