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Language of the Gothic: A small-scale corpus study examining Gothic fiction’s
place in the nineteenth century conflict between Romanticism and the Age of
Enlightenment.
Introduction.
This empirical corpus-based linguistic study of Gothic fiction in the nineteenth century
examines whether the sub-genre was exclusively a part of Romanticism, or if it was
compromised by the Age of Enlightenment movement that Romanticism contrasted.
Represented by a text corpus of author Edgar Allen Poe’s anthology of works in this
study, the Gothic novel emerged in the conflict between the Age of Enlightenment and
Romanticism. The Age of Enlightenment, a cultural movement originating in Europe, first
introduced critical reasoning to Western society in the early eighteenth century (Withers,
2008: 171). Enlightenment intellectuals discredited faith-based systems across society,
citing theological dogma and fantasy’s obstruction to liberal secular thinking (Withers,
2008: 3). Romanticism was a reactionary artistic movement to the Enlightenment’s
extreme desire to rationalise the natural. The movement projected emotive and
irrational subjects including the imagination, the supernatural, and sublime beauty of the
natural world. Romantics argued the Enlightenment ignored these unfounded spheres
because they disregarded the importance of the logic and the scientific method (Gairdner,
1999: 85). Supported by the resurgence of religion in the mid-eighteenth century (Orr,
1949), the contest between Romanticism and the Age of Enlightenment was wellestablished in Western society by the beginning of the nineteenth century (Marino, 2004:
28). Whilst the Enlightenment had social, legal, economic and religious implications
(Zafirovsk, 2011), this study’s focus concerns its effect on Gothic literature.
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I will use the Wordlist and Concord functions of WordSmith 5.0 software to address
this literary and stylistic issue. Normalised frequency wordlists, concordance lines and
collocates from a text corpus of Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic works (437,333 words) and a
reference corpus of alternative nineteenth century literature (4,078,799 words), both
detailed in Figure 1a, will be analysed. Poe’s writings represent the sub-genre of Gothic
literature in the nineteenth century. Twenty-six reference texts from the same period
embody the Age of Enlightenment’s influence on non-Gothic literature that Giuliano
Pancaldi argued was ‘favourable to scientific activity’ (2005:65). Stuart C. Brown also
cited a connection between the eighteenth century Enlightenment movement and
positivism in nineteenth century literature (1996: 3). A comparison of these corpora will
help establish whether Gothic fiction defied literary and social Enlightenment conventions
through Romantic subject matter, or if the Gothic was constructed using Enlightenment
values of popular literary culture, like rationalisation. Linguistic features can define
literary genres and themes, as John Sinclair affirmed: ‘no systematic apparatus (e.g. CL)
can claim to describe language if it does not embrace literature.’ (2004: 51) This study
employs Sinclair’s methodology, collecting a range of noun, verb, adjective and narrative
terms to identify their semantic domains, literary themes, in nineteenth century fiction.
The approach also satisfies Claude Lévi-Strauss’ corpus linguistics principle that language
is a significant part of the social experience (Kearney, 1994: 255), with literature
accommodating both fields.
The experiential study directly observes language in corpus data, using its contents
as indicators of certain literary themes that convey Romantic Gothic ideals. These
selected themes will be the character’s psychological internal struggle, the supernatural
and the imposing Gothic setting.
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Literature Review.
Researching the wider intellectual discussion regarding literary and social conventions
behind the Gothic sub-genre provides inductive investigation alongside corpus-based
framework analysis. In return, linguistic data analysis based on corpora data contributes
to the existing literary understanding of the Gothic mode.
As a part of Romantic fiction, the nineteenth century Gothic novel prioritised
emotional content, using characters and literary themes to convey horror and Romance
(Kollwitz, 2003: 6). Part of the Gothic’s emotive appeal derived from its disregard of
existing social conventions that Elizabeth MacAndrew would suggest shielded society
from its ‘fears and impulses’ (1979: 3). Romantic Gothic motifs like sexuality, murder
and madness prompted debate over the nineteenth century Gothic fiction’s relationship
with the Enlightenment Movement and its role in society. On this subject, there are two
conflicting schools of intellectual thought.
Mauricio Ascari argued Gothic literature incorporated Enlightenment values, citing
‘the conceptualisation of the supernatural in Victorian culture’ and ‘pseudo-science such
as mesmerism, hypnotism, spiritualism, physiognomy…’ (2007: X),which manifested in
Gothic fictions like Dracula. French social theorist and literary critic Michael Foucault also
compared Western society’s pursuit of knowledge to Gothic fiction’s breaking of social
convention (Foucault 1980, 153-154).
Other critics argued Gothic fiction completely opposed the Enlightenment, rejecting
its values as part of the Romantic agenda to empower emotion, the irrational and the
sublime. Andrew Smith embodied this perspective: ‘The Gothic’s exploration of the
irrational and focus on heightened emotional states provides a counterpart to an
Enlightenment confidence in scientific method’ (2007: 181). Teresa A. Goddu shared this
view, citing Gothic fiction as ‘a primary means of speaking the unspeakable in American
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literature…to register cultural contradictions’ (1997: 10). Goddu also credited Poe’s
leading contributions to the nineteenth century Gothic sub-genre, considering him the
‘“demonized” other who must be exorcized from the “mainstream” of our “classic”
American literature.’ (1997: 77).
In the existing intellectual debate, I hypothesise this study will reveal the extent of
Gothic fiction’s Romantic qualities, as an opponent of the Enlightenment movement.
The internal struggle within the individual human’s consciousness is prevalent in
Gothic literature. This theme often manifests as madness, tracking the protagonist’s
deteriorating mental condition and social etiquette in fictions including Poe’s ‘The TellTale Heart’ and Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. The individual’s capabilities are
tested by psychological and emotional trauma; the product of new, unfamiliar
experiences constructed around him or her in the Gothic world. Edmund Burke alluded to
this impact of emotional trauma on the psyche:
No passion so effectively robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning
of fear…For fear being an apprehension of pain or death, it operates in a manner
that resembles actual pain. (1987: 51).
Narrative conveyed psychological struggle in Gothic fiction. The storyteller was often
unreliable, susceptible to emotional forces that impeded the clarity of his or her account,
affecting narrators in Poe’s ‘Ligeia’ and ‘The Black Cat’. Dorothy Z. Baker referenced the
psychological turmoil of Poe’s Gothic characters: ‘The ethos of Poe’s narrator is not that
of the wise bard or the community historian, rather that of the drunkard, the convicted
murderer, the card shark and the womanizer.’ (2007: 41). This internal struggle is
frequently associated with existing social conventions and taboo themes including incest,
which academic professor Victor Sage recognised as a plot enhancer in Gothic tales: ‘The
Freudian allegory of the “family romance,”’ (1990: 25). Donald A. Ringe substantiated
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the Gothic’s affiliation with the scientific field of psychology, noting how authors of the
sub-genre ‘probed the dark and irrational side of the human psyche,’ (1982: 22). The
internal struggle paradigm arguably provided plausible reasoning behind fantastical
Gothic effects including the supernatural, introducing the character’s misconception of
the truth to potentially appease an Enlightenment society.
An overwhelming sense of absence and anticipation for change also accentuated the
internal struggle in Gothic literature. Often characterised by omens, visions and other
similar phenomenon, this motif introduced anxiety and induced doubt of the
protagonist’s reality in texts including John Keats’ Isabella, or the Pot of Basil. G. R.
Thompson suggested Poe’s Gothic works exhibited ‘a tension between the creative and
the destructive impulses of the Universe’ (1970: 298), that is never explained or
resolved, enhancing suspense at the climactic conclusion of Gothic tales. ‘Skepticism’
also emerges from ‘the appalling possibility that the essence of the Universe is neither
creative nor destructive in any design – but simply Void’ (1970: 298). This ‘Void’ in Poe’s
texts provoked emotive response from characters and readers alike through existential
apprehension, developing fear and terror relating in Gothic literature. This manifests in
Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum where the pit’s contents are intentionally unspecified,
provoking internal struggle within the unnamed narrator. He is terrified by the pit’s
contents and potential nothingness. Fear of the Void arguably stemmed from an
Enlightenment desire for information.
Another key theme in Gothic literature is the supernatural, the individual’s efforts to
understand forces potentially existing beyond the parameters of death. The Gothic form
indulged in symbols of the supernatural, particularly ‘ghostly’ paranormal phenomena
and the motif of darkness. Joseph J. Moldenhauer, conveyed the significance of life
beyond death in Poe’s Gothic tales, alluding to the author’s discussion of cosmology,
origin and fate in fiction. Aligning beauty, goodness and truth with death in Poe’s works,
Moldenhauer’s claim identified the supernatural as a key theme of Poe’s Gothic texts
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(1968). This association of cosmology with death and destruction frames many stories in
nineteenth century Gothic literature including Eliza Parsons’ The Castle of Wolfenbach.
The Age of Enlightenment ousted traditional religious perceptions of death and
murder, critically analysing the aesthetic value of the ‘crime par excellence’ (Ascari,
2007: 40). Citing death’s new value in light of the ‘professional crime case,’ Ascari
suggested Gothic fiction incorporated elements of Enlightenment ideology. Regardless of
the study’s outcome, this notion substantiated death’s significant presence in Gothic
literature, with supernatural elements often connected.
As Gothic literature promoted fear, horror and other emotions, darkness was a
subject that regularly enabled the internal struggle, the supernatural and the imposing
setting. As an entity that obscures the individual’s vision, Ascari promoted darkness as a
literary motif that combined fantastical elements of the supernatural with plausible
explanations relating to the Enlightenment’s fondness for rationality:
the supernatural asserted its presence in stories revolving around crime and
detection along four major intersecting lines – premonitory, revelatory dreams,
ghosts, the revenger as hero and pseudo-scientific crime and detection… (2007:
58).
The imposing nature of Gothic fiction’s settings was also a prevailing theme in the
sub-genre. With history in painting and architecture, Romanticism and the Gothic
manifested as medieval building structures and daunting settings that shaped many
Gothic stories. Castles, churches and other archaic or ominous buildings arouse
insecurities using their religious and social implications of a higher power to trivialise the
existence of individuals (Smith, 2007: 3). Through semantic relationships, the imposing
setting is often accentuated by other Gothic themes including the supernatural and
internal exploration of the subconscious human mind, as in Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House
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of Usher’.
As a symbol of wild, sublime and suppressive forces acting on the protagonist, the
setting was characterised in Gothic literature, often divulging information, affecting other
characters and contributing to plot development. Some environments in Poe’s works
inverted popular conceptions of social forces, including religion, to establish a Romantic
agenda. Symbols of this process, including Ambrosio’s evil descent in Matthew Gregory
Lewis’ The Monk, engage the reader by incorporating elements of conventional society.
The concept of a pit or a crypt, for example, has induced psychological torment, another
dominant theme. Texts including The Pit and the Pendulum, according to Fisher, use
dark and eerie spaces to reflect ‘journeying into the heart of [the narrator-protagonist’s]
own dark inner depth…a tormented soul’s explorations of its every dimension.’ (2002:
85). These settings exposed the human’s vulnerability, alluding to sublime forces
beyond the realm of ‘scientific knowledge’.
A literary focus on the human form enabled the figurative description of the Gothic’s
imposing through symbols and emotive imagery. Fisher alluded to this relationship in
Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher: ‘Roderick is an artist figure gone mad in this drama
inside a house that symbolises a head (ergo, its emphasis on the mind)…Madeleine’s
name, which may mean…’tower of strength’ has sexual implications…a deft irony in its
phalicness’ (2002: 90). The human form can be interpreted as the Gothic mode’s
creation of a middle ground between Romanticism’s sensuality and the Enlightenment’s
scientific developments. This contribution to Poe’s Gothic fiction merits the corpus
linguistic analysis of body parts in the text and reference corpora. Gothic motifs drawn
from this literature review helped compile the key terms selected for data analysis.
Methodology.
Analysis of Poe’s text corpus and a wider nineteenth century reference corpus
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provides linguistic information to benefit the literary debate concerning the Gothic’s
stance against the Enlightenment, a methodology endorsed by H.G. Widdowson: ‘Corpus
findings are textual substantiation to impressionistic interpretations’ (Widdowson, 2008:
294).
The reference corpus presents a wide collection of prominent nineteenth century
authors, enabling a comparison of Gothic texts with the conventional mainstream of
literature in Western society. Poe’s works were obtained from Project Gutenberg and
condensed into a single text corpus to represent nineteenth century Gothic fiction.
Neither corpus required substantial cleaning and the actual content remains fully intact.
The first section of analysis will exercise Bettina Starcke’s theory that a term’s
linguistic frequency is objective evidence for its significance in literature (2006),
replacing Jane Austen’s writing with Edgar Allen Poe’s. Selected terms from the literary
semantic fields of the internal psychological struggle, the supernatural and the imposing
setting (Figure 1b) are searched in both corpora for frequency. These frequencies are
then normalised and compared to establish whether one corpus significantly outweighs
the other. This strategy, used in Ute Römer and Stefanie Wulff’s exploration of students’
academic writing (2010: 119-121), examines the constant variable of literary themes
across multiple corpora differing in size and content to the extent of Gothic’s distinction
from other literature.
I have selected the 90 terms corresponding with each literary theme using three
criteria: Preparatory extensive reading of Gothic literature; my academic understanding
of selected terms’ literary semantic correlation with each theme; and a Wordlist
comparing the text corpus to the reference corpus. Wordsmith 5.0’s KeyWords function
was unable to compare a substantial number of terms from these three literary themes
in each corpora. The Wordlist comparison (Figure 1c), however, provided lexical items to
either integrate into my own normalised frequency comparison, or provide a frame of
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reference for other terms I select.
A majority of higher ‘per million’ normalised frequency terms in Poe’s text corpus,
compared to the nineteenth century prose reference corpus, would validate Smith and
Goddu’s argument. Equal or fewer normalised quantities would strengthen Ascari and
Foucault’s case. Some titles in the reference corpus, including Wuthering Heights and
Jane Eyre, are perceived as Gothic by other academics including Thomas Schachtebeck
(2003). I maintain they do not foreground the key Gothic themes of internal
psychological struggle, the supernatural and the imposing setting as prominently as Poe
and other explicitly Gothic authors, nor do they apply fantastical elements as frequently
either.
The second section of analysis takes three terms from the normalised frequency lists
of each corpus and closely examines random concordance lines in both corpora for
trending collocates. The study will only examine co-occurring words that directly address
the node term. This linguistic research technique is employed in Michael Stubbs’ stylistic
examination of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (2005: 14-15). Frequent lexical or
semantic collocates, clustered by semantic field or literary theme, will reveal either
thematic overlap or a contrast of Gothic and Enlightenment characteristics in the corpora.
Analysis.
The normalised frequencies of internal struggle, supernatural and imposing setting
terms in Figures 2a, 2b and 2c reveal that the Gothic works of Edgar Allen Poe applied
these thematic, and often emotive, words more often than the reference corpus of other
nineteenth century texts. 59% of the 90 words relating to psychological conflict (Figure
2a), 66% of the 90 words associated with the supernatural (Figure 2b) and 77% of the
90 imposing setting (Figure 2c) terms appeared more often in the text corpus than the
reference corpus. These three thematic categories are a prominent part of nineteenth
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century Gothic fiction and are less significant in the wider literary sphere of the period.
Based on the Enlightenment’s effect on society, including nineteenth century literature,
these statistics suggest Gothic fiction intentionally employed emotive themes. These
contradicted Enlightenment values more often than other popular literature, affirming
the Gothic mode’s exclusive position within the Romantic art movement.
The Gothic text corpus’ normalized majority of internal struggle terms is slight at 59%
(Figure 2a). Across a large sample of 90 words, designed to ensure the test’s fairness,
these findings reveal internal struggle’s presence in other nineteenth century works,
including Tess’ mental anxiety in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Notable emotive normalised
terms including ‘anguish’, ‘greed’ and ‘resentment’ even appeared more often in the
reference corpus. One might attribute this to parallels between the individual’s
psychological endeavour to resolve tensions with social conventions and the
Enlightenment’s scientific method of discovery. Of the three themes, the internal
struggle was the most susceptible to a significant presence in Enlightenment literature,
where a similar agenda for knowledge and resolution was established.
The text corpus also has a larger proportion of higher normalised frequency terms
relating to the theme of the supernatural, 66% of the 90 selected words in Figure 2b.
This outcome is compliant with intellectual theorists who identified Gothic fiction’s unique
association with the supernatural, like Robert Geary (1992). The supernatural
encapsulates some of the most fantastical elements in literature, including ‘angel’,
‘demon’ and ‘ghost’, abstract concepts that contrast and undermine the Age of
Enlightenment’s reverence of proof.
The text corpus’ number of higher normalised terms is even greater in Figure 2c, the
imposing setting. With a 77% majority of these 90 words, the imposing setting’s appears
a more significant literary theme in Gothic works than alternative, less fantastical,
literature of the period. This is applicable in specific cases including ‘dungeon, ‘forest’
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and ‘nature’. One might attribute this to abstract interaction between the character and
their surroundings in the text corpus. Solely human interaction is a more plausible and
rational concept than some Gothic character’s relationships with inanimate objects and
other species, such as Poe’s ‘The Raven’.
The normalised frequency analysis suggests key literary themes in the nineteenth
century Gothic sub-genre, which are less prominent in non-Gothic literature,
manipulated the emotional condition of characters and readers using psychological
struggle and fantastical elements as characteristics of Romantic literature.
Concordance line data provides more evidence of the Gothic’s Romantic affiliation. In
this study of thematic collocates, samples from the text corpus are more figurative and
emotive. Samples from the reference corpus of conventional nineteenth century
literature are more literal and measured. The three terms chosen as node words for
concordance analysis are well-associated with the key Gothic themes identified in the
literature review and normalised frequency tables. Dark is a term compatible with the
imposing setting, spirit is synonymous with the supernatural and fury is a product of
internal struggle in Gothic literature. A collocate analysis of terms from each theme
affirms internal struggle, the supernatural and imposing setting as emotive and irrational
key Gothic themes. The analysis also connects the nineteenth century reference corpus
and the Enlightenment movement.
In Figure 3a, the term dark is accompanied regularly by location collocates including
‘hemisphere,’ (line 2) ‘spots,’ (3) ‘places’ (4) and ‘Mediterranean sea’ (1) that relate the
word to setting in Gothic literature as an emotive qualifier that arouses unease. Three
other dark collocates, based on the conceptual metaphor ‘knowledge is light’, detail
characters’ confusion in lines 5, 6 and 13. In these examples, the motif of darkness
represents the internal struggle, demonstrating thematic overlap between psychology
and environment in Poe’s works and reinforcing their places in Gothic literature’s identity.
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The term dark is also applied as an adjective in Figure 3b. Contrary to Figure 3a’s
focus on the aesthetic value of the imposing setting, dark in Figure 3b is applied to
accurately inform the audience. The term notably describes characters’ hair, eye and
skin colour in lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 14, 19, revealing the value of accurate details and
scientific description in the Age of Enlightenment. The reference corpus replaces the
emotive use of dark in the text corpus to provide a more candid narrative.
Figure 4a and 4b examine the node word spirit in concordance line data, as a
reference towards the theme of the supernatural. Figure 4a’s collocate information is
from the text corpus, where spirit regularly addresses the irrational concepts of
paranormal encounters and the afterlife. Dynamic verb collocates including ‘flee,’ (20)
‘guiding,’ (19) and ‘passed into’ (8) empower the spirit with the ability to perform actions.
This characterisation indulges the Gothic notion of life after death. The spirit and the
supernatural could not be validated by science, or the Enlightenment. As a Gothic writer,
Poe’s empowerment of the supernatural indulges its aesthetic value as a Romantic
quality.
In Figure 4b’s reference corpus data, spirit addresses a character’s personality,
rather than their connection with the ‘supernatural realm’. Collocates of spirit relating to
behaviour from the nineteenth century prose reference corpus include ‘sour’ (3),
‘generous’ (7) and ‘proud’ (18) substantiate this notion. Although emotion has been
established as a feature of Romanticism (Gairdner, 1999), the choice to focus on spirit
as personality, over supernatural connotations, can be interpreted as keeping literary
content grounded in reality, a motive that coincides with Enlightenment ideology.
Figures 5a and 5b are concordance lines from the text and reference corpus,
providing collocates for the term fury. A word associated with the Gothic theme of
psychological internal struggle, fury is often an emotional response to conflict between a
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character’s desire and suppressive social conventions.
In Figure 5a, fury is often associated with diverse and fantastical individuals who
underline Gothic characters’ susceptibility to emotional outbursts, including a ‘beast’ (2)
and a ‘dragon’ (6). By introducing irrational entities and emotional expression over
reason and logic, text corpus collocate samples contradict Enlightenment ideology. In the
same concordance table, the empowerment of the wind’s ‘gale’ (11) and a ‘boisterous
night’ (20), using fury, elicits emotive and destructive impulses in Gothic literature. Each
term exhibits Romantic qualities that contradict the Enlightenment movement and
rational science.
Table 5b demonstrates an abnormally prominent affinity between fury, crime and
death in the reference corpus. ‘Murder’ (4), ‘vengeance’ (3) and ‘fugitive’ (2) are all
indicative of this association. One can relate these findings to the Age of Enlightenment
by alluding to Ascari’s reference of the professional crime case in literature (2007: 40).
Through inductive reasoning and investigation, Gothic themes including death and the
psychological internal struggle are framed around rationality and the scientific method of
the Enlightenment movement. Combining Gothic’s Romantic literary themes with
Enlightenment social values, this corpus reveals a literary overlap in these contemporary
reference texts. Whilst the term fury reveals emotion in nineteenth century prose texts,
it does not interact with fantasy elements as frequently as in the text corpus of Poe’s
works. Instead, fury is used in conjunction with language from the science-based fields
of crime and investigation.
Discussion Interpretation.
Normalised frequency and concordance line data from these corpus linguistic
experiments align with Andrew Smith and Teresa A. Goddu’s perspective on the
nineteenth century Gothic mode’s relationship with Enlightenment values. Multiple
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discrepancies between the text and reference corpora’s contextual application of identical
language suggest the sub-genre differed from other contemporary literature that
represented the Enlightenment’s effect on society. The only incorporation of
Enlightenment motifs in Gothic fiction, like rationalisation and scientific method,
appeared trivialise human existence and pursuit of knowledge in works like The Strange
Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Results from Figure 2a’s normalised frequency table of ‘internal struggle’ terms
confirm the theme’s prominence in the Gothic text corpus compared to the reference
corpus. Benjamin F. Fisher cited The Assignation in his study of internal struggle’s
literary importance in Poe’s texts, and its contrast with social convention: ‘The strangerlover…has attempted to mitigate his frustrations in love by collecting artwork…to
symbolize the imperfections caused when only the physical side of human nature is
emphasized.’ (2002: 79). Gothic narratives where the imagination created an alternative
reality conveyed psychological struggle’s prominence in Poe’s work, and the theme’s
incompatibility with Enlightenment ideals.
Concordance line analysis of the term fury in both corpora also contributes to Smith
and Goddu’s school of thought. The term’s allusion to various emotional outbursts in
Figure 5a compliments Kevin J. Hayes’ comments on the Gothic narrator’s reliability, in
contrast to the omnipotent narrator of traditional literature:
‘the narrator [In ‘Man of the Crowd’] encounters something that he cannot read,
and he, too, finds the unreadable threatening…Poe suggests that few experiences
are more terrifying than encountering the unreadable in a world we thought we
could read...’ (2002: 465)
This pattern coincides with Dorothy Z. Baker’s citation of narrative differences in the
works of nineteenth century author Edgar Allen Poe and eighteenth century writer Cotton
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Mather: ‘The minister who alone can decode…replaced by an otherwise common man
who in “The Tell-Tale Heart” is “very, very dreadfully nervous” or “dizzy”.’ (2007: 41)
Through the narrator’s internal struggle and emotive interaction with the external world,
Poe’s literature establishes internal struggle as a satirical parody of the Enlightenment’s
rational pursuit of knowledge. Ascari identified ‘two stages of psychological anguish’ in
Gothic literature relating to knowledge and ethics: ‘first the drama of uncertainty as to
the identity of the culprit [when seeking revenge], second the doubts concerning the
moral righteousness of revenge.’ (2007: 29)
However, Ascari also compared the Gothic to Victorian theatre: ‘Plots were often
based on parallelism…the sins of the fathers would be visited on their
children…[combining] an old biblical formula with the new scientific emphasis on
heredity.’ (2002: 58). This observation attempted to align Gothic literature with
alternative contemporary fiction and its Enlightenment qualities, rational
experimentation and a scientific method of investigation. Results from the normalised
frequency table contrast this perspective, suggesting the Gothic mode used more
dramatic language to discredit the ‘Enlightenment frame of mind’ (Williams, 1995: 248).
The connection between existing intellectual discussion and this study’s findings solidifies
the Gothic’s exclusive affiliation with Romanticism.
Corpus-based analysis of terms from the supernatural semantic field reveals the
supernatural’s versatile role in Gothic fiction, underlining its significance as a key literary
theme. The supernatural’s appeal amongst the nineteenth century reading audience
stemmed from its association with death, which all beings are subject to. Sir Walter
Scott’s examination of the supernatural noted its wide allure in nineteenth century
Western society: ‘It [death] is common to all classes of mankind, and perhaps is to none
so familiar as to those who assume a certain degree of scepticism on the subject…’
(1827: 65) The human desire to avoid death made supernatural beings effective
antagonists within Gothic literature. Concordance line analysis of the different collocates
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of spirit in the text corpus (Figure 4a) and reference corpus (Figure 4b) verifies this
notion and conveys the suppressive nature of supernatural forces in texts including Poe’s
The Haunted Palace. The normalised frequency results and examination of collocates
both reveal a comparative absence of the supernatural in Enlightenment-influenced nonGothic literature. These findings reinforce critical intellectual claims, like A. E. Longuiel’s
use of the supernatural’s exclusivity to the Gothic mode, (1923: 459). Oppressive
supernatural forces provoked an emotional response from Gothic readers that contrasted
logic and rationalisation’s priority in the Enlightenment movement.
In Edmund Burke’s discussion of the sublime and beautiful aesthetics in nature, he
declared the fear of death as the most sublime emotion of all (1987). Gothic authors
adapted this notion, often transforming death into a gateway to the afterlife, as in Poe’s
Eldorado and Morella for example. Ringe also claimed that Poe vacillated ‘between the
rationally explained and the frankly supernatural’ (1982: 151). In the dichotomy
between reality and fantasy in Gothic fiction, the supernatural acts as a dominant
representation of fantastical literary elements. Collocates from Figure 4a empower the
irrational concepts of death and the afterlife through characterisation to demonstrate the
supernatural’s literary significance in Gothic literature. Allusions to spiritual possession in
lines 5 and 8 combine with paranormal concepts including immortality and angels in lines
14 and 15 to exhibit Gothic literature’s Romantic focus on irrational subjects. The term
spirit is interpreted differently in concordance lines from Figure 4b, where the word is
applied to reference characters’ personalities. Collocates related to mood including ‘sour’
(3), ‘depressed’ (9) and ‘indignant’ (15) confirm this observation, whilst highlighting the
contrasting content between nineteenth-century Gothic literature and alternative
contemporary fiction.
As an element of the Gothic’s imposing environment, the motif of darkness often
conveyed the theme’s significance in the sub-genre. Ringe elaborated on vision’s role in
the character’s efforts to identify their own reality: ‘light, shadow and sound, especially
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in strange or suggestive surroundings, can stimulate the imagination…the overwrought
may leap to a conclusion that the unfiltered understanding would probably not accept.’
(1982: 26). The Gothic writer’s masking of information using darkness helped develop a
vacuous narrator susceptible to the narrative and emotional outbursts, as in ‘The TellTale Heart’. By breaking the convention of a reliable chronicler, darkness also
empowered the surrounding environment. As a veil between society and an individual’s
psychology in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ the dim setting of Roderick Usher’s estate
allows Usher to create an alternative existence fuelled by his imagination. Results from
this study’s data analysis, especially collocates of the word dark relating to a character’s
surroundings in Figure 3a, denote the term’s intended effect when used by Gothic
authors like Poe – to suppress, confuse and ultimately provoke emotion from characters
and readers alike. The term’s more literal use as a descriptor in collocates from the
reference corpus in Table 3b does not arouse the imagination in the same capacity that
Ringe credits Gothic texts for.
An imposing setting also allowed Gothic writers to develop their antagonists. Ascari’s
analysis of persecution in Gothic literature through physical environments affirmed this
notion:
…a display of power associated with dungeons and danger…gothic novels are
often set in Southern European countries and do not refrain from depicting the
stock in trade of anti-Catholic propaganda – depraved monks, corrupted
convents… (2007: 41)
Incorporating existing social institutions in Gothic literature did not create plausible
or realistic antagonists to appease the Enlightenment mentality. Instead, an imposing
setting conveyed the Gothic environment’s sublime aesthetic qualities. Andrew Smith’s
discussion of the sublime’s importance to Romantic fiction conveyed the importance of
setting in the Gothic mode’s development of characters: ‘Typically, in the sublime
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moment the subject feels overwhelmed by their experience of nature’ (2007: 184). This
interpretation of setting conveys its thematic value. Gothic setting trivialised characters
using abstract forces that could not be explained using science or logic, contrary to Acari
and Goddu’s argument of legitimate Enlightenment integration into the Gothic mode.
One particular facet of the imposing environment in Gothic literature that humbles
humans is wildlife. As separate beings with their own conscious awareness, animals
exhibit an independence that Edmund Burke correlates with the emotion of terror: ‘There
are many animals…capable of raising ideas of the sublime, because they are considered
as objects of terror. As serpents and poisonous animals of all kinds.’ (1987: 34) Symbols
of the imposing natural setting, animals physically interact with characters in Gothic
stories, notably Poe’s ‘The Raven’. Critical interpretations of Gothic literature and data
analysis have revealed dark is used more frequently for affective purposes in the text
corpus than the reference corpus.
Conclusion.
This study’s corpus-based analysis supports the Gothic mode’s exclusivity to
Romantic ideology in an ‘Enlightened’ nineteenth century Western society. This outcome
supports Andrew Smith and Teresa A. Goddu’s argument over Mauricio Ascari and
Michael Foucault’s claims of Enlightenment ideals in Gothic fiction. The Gothic’s
exploration of the emotional, the irrational and the sublime, identified in this study,
dictated this conclusion. Thematic elements successfully integrated together to
collectively indulge the Romantic aesthetic, as described in the literature review and
concordance line analysis. This feat occurred despite Edgar Allen Poe and the Gothic
mode’s existence in a period where rationalisation and the scientific method were
culturally established (Marino, 2004: 28). Numerical data and close analysis reveal the
majority of ‘themed’ words relating to internal struggle, the supernatural and an
imposing setting are applied more frequently, and in irrational literary contexts,
compared to non-Gothic literature of the same period.
18
Aidan O’Connor
This study has productively contributed to the existing intellectual discussion
regarding the nineteenth century Gothic sub-genre, which lacked corpus linguistic data
analysis and a significant comparison with non-Gothic contemporary literature. The
qualitative analysis of random collocates and quantitative analysis of selected words’
normalised frequencies collectively provide an empirical stylistic method for this corpusbased study. This approach provided evidence of disparity between the emotive Gothic
sub-genre of Romanticism and other, more rational, nineteenth century prose works.
Whilst normalised frequency and concordance line data provided a comprehensive
evaluation of the Gothic modes’ relation to Age of Enlightenment characteristics, there is
potential to continue this study into further research beyond the three literary themes
selected for close analysis. Other concepts including character stereotypes in Gothic
fiction - such as the tyrant or the naïve maiden - and alternative contemporary literature
would develop this intellectual argument further.
One might also suggest a text corpus of Poe’s work is too narrow to represent the
nineteenth century Gothic literature. Whilst Poe has been credited as a commanding
presence in the sub-genre by intellectuals including Marianne Noble (2008: 77), Joseph
Bodziock’s distinguished between “the social struggle of the European” and the
“Manichean struggle” between the moral forces of personal and communal…and moral
depravity’ (1988: 33). Bodziock’s theory suggests a corpus analysis of European Gothic
fiction would also benefit and extended study.
References.
Ascari, M. (2007). A Counter-History of Crime Fiction: Supernatural, Gothic, Sensational.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
19
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Baker, D. (2007). ‘A Wilderness of Error: Edgar Allen Poe’s Revision of Providential
Tropes,’ In. America’s Gothic Fiction: The Legacy of Magnalia Christi Americana,
Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, pp. 37-64.
Bodziock, J. (1988). ‘Richard Wright and Afro-American Gothic’ In. Myths and Realities.
Ed. C. James Trotman. New York: Garland, pp . 27-42.
Brown, S. (1996). British Philosophy and the Age of Enlightenment, London: Routledge.
Burke, E. (eds.) (1987) A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the
Sublime and the Beautiful. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Castricano, C. (1998) ‘If a Building Is a Sentence, So Is a Body: Kathy Acker and the
Postcolonial Gothic’. In R. Martin and E. Savoy (eds.) American Gothic: New
Interventions in a National Narrative. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, pp. 202214.
Fisher, B. (2002). ‘Poe and the Gothic Tradition’. In K. Hayes (eds.) The Cambridge
Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Cambridge University Press, pp. 72-91.
Foucault, M. (1980). ‘The Eye of Power,’ In. C. Gordon (eds.) Power/Knowledge:
Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon Books. 146165.
Gairdner, W. (1999). ‘Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Romantic Roots of Modern
Democracy’, Humanitas, 12.1: 77-88.
Geary, R. (1992) The Supernatural in Gothic Fiction: Horror, Belief, and Literary Change,
Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
20
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Goddu, T. (1997) Gothic America: Narrative, History, and Nation. New York: Columbia
University Press.
---------- (2002). ‘Poe, sensationalism, and slavery’, In K. Hayes (eds.) The Cambridge
Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Cambridge University Press, pp. 92-112.
Hayes , K. (2002). ‘Visual Culture and the Word in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Man of the
Crowd"’, Nineteenth-Century Literature 56.4: 445-465.
Kollwitz, C. (2003). ‘The Sublime in the English Gothic Novel: Horace Walpole ́s The
Castle of Otranto’, Munich: GRIN Verlag.
Lévi-Strauss, C. In. R. Kearny (1994). Modern Movements in European Philosophy:
Phenomenology, Critical Theory, Structuralism. Manchester: Manchester University
Press.
Longueil, A. (1923). ‘The Word "Gothic" in Eighteenth Century Criticism’, Modern
Language Notes 38.8: 453-460.
MacAndrew, E. (1979). The Gothic Tradition in Fiction. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Marino, J. (2004). The Grail Legend in Modern Literature, Cambridge: DS Brewer.
Moldenhauer, J. (1968). ‘Murder as a Fine Art’, PMLA, 83: 284-297.
Noble, M. (eds.) (2008). “The American Gothic”, A Companion to American Fiction 1780
– 1865. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons .
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Orr, J. (1949) The Second Evangelical Awakening in Britain. London: Marshall, Morgan &
Scott.
Pancaldi, G. (2005). Volta: Science And Culture In The Age Of Enlightenment, Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press.
Ringe, D. (1982). American Gothic: Imagination and Reason in Nineteenth-Century
Fiction. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
Römer, U. & Wulff, S. (2010). ‘Applying corpus methods to writing research:
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Sage, V. (eds.) (1827). The Gothick Novel: A selection of critical essays, Basingstoke
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carriers of meaning'. ICAME Journal. 30: 87-104
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Appendices.
Figure 1a) Text and Reference Corpora Information.
25
Figure 1b) Thematic wordlists for frequency and collocate analysis of corpora.
26
Figure 1c) Thematic key terms from the most frequent 2,000 words in reference
26
corpus’ Wordlist.
Figure 2a) Normalised Frequencies: ‘Internal Struggle’ Theme.
27
Figure 2b) Normalised Frequencies: ‘Supernatural’ Theme.
28
Figure 2c) Normalised Frequencies: ‘Imposing Setting’ Theme.
29
Figure 3a) Random Dark Collocates in Text Corpus.
30
Figure 3b) Random Dark Collocates in Reference Corpus.
31
Figure 4a) Random Spirit Collocates in Text Corpus.
32
Figure 4b) Random Spirit Collocates in Reference Corpus.
33
Figure 5a) Random Fury Collocates in Text Corpus.
34
Figure 5b) Random Fury Collocates in Reference Corpus.
35
24
Aidan O’Connor
Figure 1a) Text and Reference Corpora Information.
Text Corpus
1 Text: The Works of Edgar Allen Poe Volumes 1-5
Word count: 437,333 (10.7% of Reference Corpus)
Reference Corpus
26 Texts: Nineteenth century Prose
1. AGNES - Agnes Gray – Anne Bronte
2. ALLI - The Small House at Allington – Anthony Trollope
3. ANTO - Antonia, Or the fall of Rome – Wilkie Collins
4. ARMA - Armadale – Wilkie Collins
5. AUDLEY - Lady Audley’s Secret – Mary Elizabeth Bradden
6. BASKER - The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle
7. CRAN - Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
8. DERONDA - Daniel Deronda – George Eliot
9. DORIAN -The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
10. EMMA - Emma – Jane Austen
11. JANE - Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
12. JUDE - Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
13. MARY - Mary Barton – Elizabth Gaskell
14. MILL - The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
15. NATIVE - The Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy
16. NORTH - North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell
17. PERSU - Persuasion – Jane Austen
18. POMP - The Last Days of Pompeii – Edward George Bulwer Lytton
19. PRIDE - Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
20. PROF - The Profession – Charlotte Bronte
21. SYBIL - Sybil, Or the Two Nations – Benjamin Disraeli
22. TESS - Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
23. VANITY - Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
24. VIVIAN - Vivian Grey – The Earl of Beacon
25. WOMAN - The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
26. WUTH - Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Word Count: 4,078,799
25
Aidan O’Connor
Figure 1b) Thematic wordlists for frequency and collocate analysis of corpora.
Theme
Selected terms for frequency and collocate analysis
Internal
psychological
struggle
Afflicted, Agony, Alarm, Alone, Amazement, Anger, Angrily, Anguish, Anxious, Apprehensions, Apprehensive,
Astonished, Astonishment, Away, Concern, Confused, Considered, Despair, Discovered, Dismal, Dismay,
Distance, Doubt, Dread, End, Enraged, Evident, Far, Fear, Few, Found, Frantic, Fright, Frightened, Furious, Fury,
Grief, Hope, Hopeless, Horror, Hours, Idea, Impatient, Mpetuosity, Impetuosity, Impossible, Incense, Incensed,
Insanity, Lamentable, Less, Longer, Mad, Melancholy, Mind, Minutes, Miserable, Never, Nothing, Panic,
Perceive, Power, Question, Rage, Raving, Reading, Reason, Resentment, Scared, Scarcely, Shocking, Soon,
Sorrow, Sudden, Suddenly, Surprise, Tears, Temper, Terrible, Terrified, Terror, Think, Thought, Truth,
Unhappy, Without, Why, Wonder,Wrath.
The
Supernatural
Black, Blackness, Blessed, Blood, Breath, Breathing, Condemned, Confess, Corpse, Curse, Dark, Darkness, Death,
Dead, Deity, Demon, Destiny, Destroyed, Diabolical, Dim, Disease, Divine, Doomed, Dream, Dying, Enchantment,
Eternity, Evil, Exist, Fate, Funeral, Ghost, Goblins, God, Grey, Haunted, Health, Heaven, Hell, Illness, Immortal,
Infernal, Life, Living, Magic, Magician, Mercy, Miracle, Moon, Mortal, Murder, Murderer, Nausea, Night,
Nightmare, Omen, Ominous, Pain, Pale, Paralysis, Perish, Pray, Preternatural, Prodigy, Prophecy, Prophetic,
Repent, Sacrifice, Secret, Shadow, Sickness, Sin, Spectre, Spirit, Strangeness, Survive, Talisman, Tired, Torture,
Unmerciful, Victim, Vision, Wicked.
The Imposing
Setting
Abbey, Alone, Appearance, Arm, Beast, Beauty, Bleak, Bddy, Bones, Burden, Castle, Cat, Cathedral, Chamber,
Cheeks, Chin, Cold, Crow, Crowding, Crypt, Dog, Dungeon, Eye, Feel, Feet, Figure, Flesh, Foot, Force, Fowl,
Ghastly, Hair, Hand, Head, Heart, Heat, Heavy, Hopeless, Horror, Knees, Legs, Lightning, Limbs, Lips, Lost,
Massive, Midnight, Mirror, Mountains,, Nails, Natural, Nature, Obstacle, Oppressive, Overwhelming, Pit, Prison,
Rain, Scent, Shoulders, Sight, Skin, Smell, Snow, Solemn, Solitude, Soul, Sound, Statue, Stern, Strange, Sublime,
Surrender, Surrounded, Taste ,Teeth, Tempt, Terrible, Thunder,Tomb, Touch, Unexplored, Unknown, Vast, Wild,
Wind.
Figure 1c) Thematic key terms from the most frequent 2,000 words in
reference corpus’ Wordlist.
Word
Frequency
Word
Frequency
Word
1. Teeth
2. Confusion
3. Alarmed
4. Mercy
5. Vision
6. Fierce
7. Solitude
8. Minds
9. Sacrifice
10.Astonishment
11. Mysterious
204
204
206
215
216
217
234
236
237
244
257
18. Castle
19. Dreadful
20. Neck
21. Mad
22. Dread
23. Temper
24. Rain
25. Terror
26 Grief
27. Evil
28. Despair
314
321
331
335
348
355
363
364
379
414
426
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
Anxious
Feet
Beauty
Spirit
Arms
Soul
Hair
Cold
Eye
Dead
Black
Frequency
\
646
694
723
748
795
862
880
885
1000
1085
1086
26
Aidan O’Connor
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Dying
Anger
Horror
Fate
Solemn
Melancholy
264
272
278
288
293
295
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
Foot
Darkness
Terrible
Heaven
Blood
Wild
436
456
467
485
583
598
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
Dark
Nature
Death
Heart
Night
Eyes
1160
1204
1353
2742
3161
3750
Figure 2a) Normalised Frequencies: ‘Internal Struggle’ Theme.
Term
Text
corpus
freque
ncy
Freq.
per
millio
n
words
Referenc
e
corpus
frequenc
y
Freq.
per
millio
n
words
Dominan
t
Corpus
(TC/RC)
Term
Text
corpu
s
freque
ncy
Freq.
per
million
words
Referenc
e
corpus
frequenc
y
Freq.
per
million
words
Dominan
t
Corpus
(TC/RC)
4
43
16
149
23
14
2
6
23
17
4
43
63
175
44
5
17
35
90
64
157
7
11
112
217
22
187
3
89
347
55
277
571
6
8
5
14
43
23
132
8
111
123
231
93
9
98
37
341
53
32
5
14
53
39
9
98
144
400
101
11
39
80
206
146
359
16
25
259
496
50
428
7
204
793
126
633
1308
14
18
11
32
98
53
302
18
254
282
528
213
46
206
228
1428
77
272
71
156
646
28
15
155
244
4002
201
122
167
204
438
426
402
120
79
549
1137
348
1638
26
211
1987
943
2126
2555
71
46
288
57
108
379
1733
146
278
923
1116
155
11
51
56
350
19
67
17
38
158
7
4
38
60
981
50
30
41
51
107
104
99
29
19
135
279
85
402
6
52
487
231
521
639
17
11
71
14
27
93
425
36
68
226
274
38
RC
TC
RC
RC
TC
RC
RC
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
TC
RC
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
Impetuosity
Impossible
Incense
Incensed
Insanity
Lamentable
Less
Longer
Mad
Melancholy
Mind
Minutes
Miserable
Never
Nothing
panic
Perceive
Power
question
Rage
Raving
Reading
reason
Resentment
Scared
scarcely
Shocking
Soon
Sorrow
Sudden
Suddenly
Surprise
Tears
Temper
Terrible
Terrified
Terror
Think
Thought
Truth
Unhappy
Without
Why
Wonder
Wrath
8
118
5
3
7
11
268
124
56
37
260
147
11
396
350
2
104
132
164
29
5
36
160
2
1
126
4
201
46
47
118
43
46
13
79
19
93
195
325
159
15
442
186
60
13
18
270
11
7
16
25
613
284
128
84
594
336
25
906
800
5
238
302
375
66
11
82
366
5
2
288
9
460
105
108
270
98
105
30
181
43
213
445
743
364
35
1010
425
137
30
16
579
24
12
42
12
1449
985
335
0
3623
949
12
6512
3931
43
155
1004
1257
137
30
457
999
95
39
551
60
2386
447
695
1071
539
781
335
467
84
364
5991
5110
1021
317
3894
2858
830
78
4
142
6
3
12
3
355
242
82
0
888
233
3
1597
964
11
38
246
308
34
7
112
245
23
10
135
15
585
110
170
263
132
192
82
115
21
89
1469
1252
250
78
955
701
204
19
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
RC
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
RC
TC
RC
RC
RC
RC
TC
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
RC
TC
RC
TC
RC
RC
TC
Internal Struggle
Afflicted
Agony
Alarm
Alone
Amazement
Anger
Angrily
Anguish
Anxious
Apprehensions
Apprehensive
Astonished
Astonishment
Away
Brain
Concern
Confused
Confusion
Considered
Despair
Discovered
Dismal
Dismay
Distance
Doubt
Dread
End
Enraged
Evident
Far
Fear
Few
Found
Frantic
Fright
Frightened
Furious
Fury
Grief
Hope
Hopeless
Horror
Hours
Idea
Impatient
TC: 53 (59%)
RC: 37 (41%)
Neutral: 0 (0%)
27
Aidan O’Connor
Figure 2b) Normalised Frequencies: ‘Supernatural’ Theme.
Term
Text
corpus
frequenc
y
Freq.
per
millio
n
words
Referenc
e
corpus
frequenc
y
Freq.
per
millio
n
words
Domina
nt
Corpus
(TC/RC)
Term
Text
corpu
s
frequ
ency
Freq.
per
million
words
Referenc
e
corpus
frequenc
y
Freq.
per
million
words
Domina
nt
Corpus
(TC/RC)
34
8
11
51
160
17
13
85
82
32
8
31
112
8
122
59
221
125
16
21
18
12
3
53
24
30
8
82
34
2
14
56
29
55
9
13
1
146
9
16
36
108
21
12
15
78
18
25
117
366
39
30
194
188
73
18
71
259
18
279
135
505
286
37
48
41
27
7
121
55
69
18
188
78
5
32
128
66
126
21
30
2
334
21
37
82
247
48
28
34
130
4
43
358
1086
32
137
583
416
135
44
245
100
100
1160
450
1353
1085
26
52
130
109
18
251
67
124
174
442
264
16
31
414
83
288
143
111
10
1065
656
95
401
485
115
216
49
33
1
11
90
266
8
34
143
102
33
11
60
25
25
284
110
332
266
6
13
32
27
4
62
16
30
43
108
65
4
8
102
20
71
35
27
3
261
161
23
98
119
28
53
12
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
TC
RC
TC
Infernal
Invisible
Life
Living
Magic
Magician
Medium
Mercy
Miracle
Moon
Mortal
Murder
Murderer
Nausea
Night
Nightmare
Omen
Ominous
Pain
Pale
Paralysis
Perish
Pray
Preternatural
Prodigy Prophecy
Prophetic
Repent
Sacrifice
Secret
Shadow
Sickness
Sin
Spectre
Spirit
Strangeness
Survive
Talisman
Tired
Torture
Unknown
Unmerciful
Victim
Vision
Wicked
6
15
228
62
15
8
20
17
14
113
22
57
10
3
338
2
7
2
58
54
2
25
17
2
1
5
2
1
9
58
94
11
8
3
162
5
1
1
2
10
46
1
32
59
5
14
34
521
143
34
18
46
39
32
260
50
130
23
7
773
5
16
11
133
124
5
57
39
5
2
11
5
2
21
133
215
25
18
7
370
11
2
2
5
23
105
2
73
135
11
54
99
4191
832
92
20
6
215
24
286
139
168
93
4
3161
21
32
57
532
672
10
42
467
21
8
22
28
86
237
840
358
76
174
24
748
17
24
10
370
71
250
3
170
198
288
13
25
1028
204
23
5
2
53
6
70
34
41
23
1
775
5
8
14
130
165
3
10
115
5
2
5
7
21
58
206
88
19
43
6
183
5
16
3
91
17
63
1
42
49
71
TC
TC
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
RC
RC
RC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
RC
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
Supernatural
Awe
Abnormal
Apparition
Angel
Black
Blackness
Blessed
Blood
Breath
Breathing
Condemned
Confess
Corpse
Curse
Dark
Darkness
Death
Dead
Deity
Demon
Destiny
Destroyed
Diabolical
Dim
Disease
Divine
Doomed
Dream
Dying
Enchantment
Eternity
Evil
Exist
Fate
Funeral
Ghost
Goblins
God
Grey
Haunted
Health
Heaven
Hell
Illness
Immortal
TC: 59 (66%)
RC: 26 (29%)
Neutral: 5 (5%)
28
Aidan O’Connor
Figure 2c) Normalised Frequencies: ‘Imposing Setting’ Theme.
Term
Text
corpus
frequenc
y
Freq.
per
millio
n
words
Referenc
e
corpus
frequenc
y
Freq.
per
millio
n
words
Domina
nt
Corpus
(TC/RC)
Term
Text
corpu
s
frequ
ency
Freq.
per
million
words
Referenc
e
corpus
frequenc
y
Freq.
per
million
words
Domina
nt
Corpus
(TC/RC)
79
149
175
125
37
140
4
249
25
9
44
3
119
15
19
50
8
4
3
160
153
55
10
188
98
290
104
19
83
93
24
10
43
82
267
348
226
26
77
8
111
30
52
15
46
181
341
400
286
85
320
9
569
57
21
101
7
272
34
43
114
18
9
7
366
350
126
23
430
224
663
238
43
190
213
55
23
98
190
611
796
517
60
176
18
245
69
119
34
105
141
1428
758
964
110
723
32
750
83
314
97
44
444
291
106
885
17
17
1
761
402
376
28
1000
1640
694
626
167
436
433
148
22
113
880
3557
2493
2742
133
554
146
278
259
163
108
151
35
350
186
236
27
177
8
184
20
77
24
11
109
71
26
217
4
4
0
190
101
92
7
245
402
170
154
41
107
106
37
5
28
216
872
611
672
33
136
36
68
63
40
27
37
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
RC
TC
RC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
Lips
Lost
Massive
Midnight
Mirror
Mountains
Nails
Natural
Nature
Obstacle
Oppressive
Overwhelming
Pit
Prison
Putrid
Rain
Scent
Shoulders
Sight
Skin
Smell
Solemn
Solitude
Soul
Sound
Statue
Stench
Stern
Strange
Sublime
Surrender
Surrounded
Taste
Teeth
Tempt
Terrible
Thunder
Tomb
Touch
Unexplored
Unknown
Vast
Vessel
Wild
Wind
74
93
6
42
31
32
14
111
224
7
8
9
20
24
3
26
5
31
104
25
6
34
23
195
124
9
4
40
99
16
4
12
41
65
3
91
16
29
31
6
46
121
120
147
145
169
213
137
96
71
73
32
245
512
16
18
21
46
55
7
60
11
71
238
57
14
78
53
446
284
21
9
92
226
37
9
27
94
149
7
208
37
66
71
14
105
277
275
336
332
1026
1038
64
122
41
82
44
685
1204
75
53
23
71
107
3
133
46
285
834
113
65
293
234
862
774
94
1
185
1042
79
14
191
398
204
42
467
101
63
362
5
250
205
151
598
491
252
255
16
30
10
20
11
168
295
18
13
6
17
26
1
89
11
70
205
28
16
72
57
211
190
23
0
45
256
19
3
47
98
50
10
115
25
15
89
1
61
50
38
15
120
RC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
RC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
TC
Imposing
Environment
Abbey
Alone
Appearance
Arm
Beast
Beauty
Bleak
Bddy
Bones
Castle
Cat
Cathedral
Chamber
Cheeks
Chin
Cold
Crow
Crowding
Crypt
Deep
Discovered
Dog
Dungeon
Eye
Feel
Feet
Figure
Flesh
Foot
Force
Forest
Fowl
Ghastly
Hair
Hand
Head
Heart
Heat
Heavy
Hopeless
Horror
Knees
Legs
Lightning
Limbs
TC: 69 (77%)
RC: 20 (22%)
Neutral: 1 (1%)
29
Aidan O’Connor
Figure 3a) Random Dark Collocates in Text Corpus.
No.
Concordance Line (with word no. and percentage in text)
1
…of the earth. From the rock of Gibraltar, now dwindled into a dim speck, the dark
Mediterranean sea, dotted with shining islands as the heaven is dotted with…
(9,554: 2%)
…farthest extremity faintly illuminated by the solar rays, before any part of the dark
hemisphere was visible. Soon afterward, the whole dark limb became illuminated…
(16,468 : 4%)
…Mare Nubium, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Faecunditatis, etc., given to the dark spots by
former astronomers, Mr. L. has entered into details regarding…
(19,141:4%)
…darkness (in the crescent or gibbous moon) where this boundary crosses any of the dark
places, the line of division is found to be rough and jagged; but, were the…
(19,200: 4%)
…"But," said I, returning him the slip, "I am as much in the dark as ever. Were all the jewels
of Golconda awaiting me upon my solution of…
(31,734: 7%)
…shot fifty feet out.'" "Even this division," said I, "leaves me still in the dark." "It left me also
in the dark," replied Legrand, "for a few days; during…
(33,285: 8%)
…bride. But she was humble and obedient, and sat meekly for many weeks in the dark, high
turret-chamber where the light dripped upon the pale canvas only from…
(91,448: 21%)
…entirely overcast—and what with this and the driving spray, it became suddenly so dark that
we could not see each other in the smack. "Such a hurricane as then…
(107,640: 25%)
…landscape—is at war with the genius of the scene. I love, indeed, to regard the dark valleys,
and the gray rocks, and the waters that silently smile, and the…
(140,889: 32%)
…all—ha! ha! When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock—still dark as
midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the…
(178,426: 41%)
…all shallow caverns, apparently scratched in the face of a precipitous ledge of dark stone,
resembling fuller's earth, with which three sides of the village…
(421,535: 55%)
…twelve o'clock found our heroes ripe for mischief, and running for life down a dark alley in
the direction of St. Andrew's Stair, hotly pursued by the landlady…
(459,130: 63%)
…Even the town mathematician confessed that he could make nothing of so dark a problem.
X, every. body knew, was an unknown quantity; but in this case...
(472,527: 66%)
…fiat of papal supremacy the rebellious sceptre of the Arch-enemy. There, the dark, tall
statures of the Princes Metzengerstein—their muscular war-coursers…
(474,484: 67%)
…body of the man may not resume its former situation—for the cupboard is again so dark as
to defy scrutiny. The drawer is now opened, and the legs of the person…
(532,160: 80%)
…been. Above all, I burn to know the incidents of your own passage through the dark Valley
and Shadow. Monos. And when did the radiant Una ask anything of her… (537,972: 81%)
…of its breast, and which was as accurately traced in glaring white, upon the dark ground of
the body, as if it had been there carefully designed by an artist
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
30
Aidan O’Connor
18
19
20
(1,094,137: 84%)
…chamber-window, sweet! The wandering airs they faint On the dark the silent stream— The
champak odors fail Like sweet though…
(1,127,159: 92%)
…1 Thy soul shall find itself alone 'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone— Not one, of all
the crowd, to pry…
(1,156,244: 99%)
…A soul that knew it well. 1827. IMITATION A dark unfathom'd tide Of interminable pride— A
mystery, and a dream…
(1,157,257: 99%)
Figure 3b) Dark Collocates in Reference Corpus.
No.
Concordance Line (with word no. and percentage in text)
1
…Robson,' Mrs. Bloomfield's brother; a tall, self-sufficient fellow, with dark hair and sallow
complexion like his sister, a nose that seemed to disdain…
(AGNES. 14,507: 21%)
…forehead; the eyebrows, I suppose, were too projecting, but from under those dark brows
there gleamed an eye of singular power, brown in colour, not large…
(AGNES. 34,014: 50%)
…there might be intellect in the forehead, there might be expression in the dark grey eyes, but
what of that?--a low Grecian brow, and large black eyes…
(AGNES. 47,016: 69%)
… was a slight, spare man, about five feet nine in height, with very bright dark eyes, a broad
forehead, with dark hair that almost curled, but which did n
(ALLI. 35,993: 14%)
…" Mr Gazebee was awestruck, and the face of the Lady Amelia became very dark. Was it not
evident that this snake, when taken into their innermost bosom
(ALLI. 48,457: 58%)
…wing the smoking censer, and slay the sacrifice at my feet!' He stopped. A dark and sinister
expression appeared in his eyes as the word 'sacrifice’…
(ANTO. 44,087: 87%)
…her--you would put it delicately, even though you were putting it quite in the dark. I can't do
that. I'm a blundering sort of fellow; and I'm horribly afraid…
(ARMA. 30,024: 84%)
… I was surprised to observe that by the gate there stood two soldierly men in dark uniforms
who leaned upon their short rifles and glanced keenly at us as we…
(BASKER. 17,687: 31%)
…What is it? What does it mean?" Holmes had sprung to his feet, and I saw his dark, athletic
outline at the door of the hut, his shoulders stooping, his head…
(BASKER. 44,565: 75%)
…cape he could not have been identified except as a gentleman with handsome dark features,
a nose which began with an intention to be aquiline but suddenly …
(DERONDA. 9,402: 3%)
…opened the door: a shaded light stood on the table, for it was now getting dark. There was
the great four-post bed with amber hangings as of old; there…
(JANE. 93,661: 50%)
…compartment promptly. He had a black bag in his hand, and was dressed in the dark suit he
wore on Sundays and in the evening after work. Altogether he looked…
(JUDE. 82,419: 57%)
…door. "But never mind--this way. As quiet as you can, please." "It is as dark as pitch," said
Jude. "Give me your hand, and I'll lead you. That's it…
(JUDE. 32,547: 92%)
…gazed upon that animated scene with folded arms, and a bitter smile upon his dark features.
'Gulls, dupes, fools, that ye are!' muttered he to himself;…
(POMP. 10,831: 7%)
…than I--yes, by Nemesis! less fair--allured from me my chosen. I was of that dark Etrurian
tribe to whom most of all were known the secrets of the gloomier…
(POMP. 80,234: 54%)
…to Westminster for example to hold a chapter. Five or six hundred baronets in dark green
costume,--the appropriate dress of equites aurati; each not only…
(SYBIL. 18,451: 12%)
…hat, and then--" he paused. Sybil returned his gaze: the deep lustre of her dark orb rested
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
31
Aidan O’Connor
18
19
20
on his peering vision; his eye fled from the unequal contest…
(SYBIL. 113,765: 52%)
…for their luggage, which the dairyman had promised to send before it grew dark. But evening
began to close in, and the luggage did not arrive, and they…
(TESS. 80,184: 54%)
…dined with them, felt that the news had been communicated to Mr. Osborne. His dark looks
affected Mr. Bullock so far as to render him still and quiet: but he…
(VANITY. 94,908: 32%)
…priceless horses, and bearing Madame de Belladonna lolling on the cushions, dark, sulky,
and blooming, a King Charles in her lap, a white parasol swaying…
284,615
34%
Figure 4a) Spirit Collocates in Text Corpus.
No.
Concordance Line (with word no. and percentage in text)
1
…but they knew me no more than they would have known a traveller from the spirit-land. My
hair which had been raven-black the day before, was as white as…
(111,247: 25%)
…dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued. Shaking off from my spirit what must
have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of…
(126,127: 29%)
…velocity. To the right—to the left—far and wide—with the shriek of a damned spirit; to my
heart with the stealthy pace of the tiger! I alternately laughed a…
(151,121: 35%)
…the letter, (which in a painting is all the obtuse can see,) gave but the full spirit of his
original for my individual contemplation and chagrin. I have…
(172,171: 39%)
…instantly pervaded my frame. My breast heaved, my knees tottered, my whole spirit became
possessed with an objectless yet intolerable horror. Gasping for…
(172,908: 40%)
…what I had done for the comfort of her spirit she would watch over me in that spirit when
departed, and, if so it were permitted her return to me visibly in…
(365,596: 42%)
…no maiden ever equalled her. It was the radiance of an opium-dream—an airy and spiritlifting vision more wildly divine than the phantasies which hovered vision…
(437,479: 58%)
…to say that, subsequently to the period when Ligeia's beauty passed into my spirit, there
dwelling as in a shrine, I derived, from many existences in the…
(438,244: 58%)
…at affection—ah, how little!—which thou didst feel for me, Morella. And when my spirit
departs shall the child live—thy child and mine, Morella's. But thy days…
(444,079: 60%)
…the hills"; and it really seemed that the words had in them something of the spirit of
prophecy. It wanted five minutes of noon, on the day before yesterday…
(467,273: 65%)
…lungs and implicit confidence, should vociferate the word "Amen!" It was in the spirit of this
wisdom that, when a great plague raged at Athens, and every means…
(516,385: 76%)
…without understanding it; attending strictly to its letter, and violating its spirit. These fellows
are always doing the most out-of-the-way things in what…
(520,081: 77%)
…Jupiter is conjoined with the red ring of the terrible Saturnus. The peculiar spirit of the skies,
if I mistake not greatly, made itself manifest, not only in…
(543,104: 83%)
…to the harmonious—in a word, to Beauty. An immortal instinct deep within the spirit of man
is thus plainly a sense of the Beautiful. This it is which…
(1,128,164: 92%)
…written by him— By him who, as he pens them, thrills to think His spirit is communing with
an angel's. 1847. TO MARIE LOUISE (SHEW)…
(1,139,412: 85%)
…given - To bear the Goddess' song, in odors, up to Heaven: "Spirit! that dwellest where, In
the deep sky, The terr…
(1,150,808: 98%)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
32
Aidan O’Connor
17
18
19
20
…But such is not a gift of thine. Know thou the secret of a spirit Bow'd from its wild pride into
shame. O! yearning heart!...
(1,154,004: 99%)
…esar—this to me? The heritage of a kingly mind, And a proud spirit which hath striven
Triumphantly with human kind. On…
(1,154,125: 99%)
…world were chiding, Hath cheered me as a lovely beam A lonely spirit guiding. What though
that light, thro' storm and night…
(1,156,480: 99%)
…adore! II And when I bade the dream Upon thy spirit flee, Thy violet eyes to me Upturned,
did overflowing see…
(1,158,541: 100%)
Figure 4b) Spirit Collocates in Reference Corpus.
No.
Concordance Line
1
…show him the error of his ways: but I looked in vain for that generous, noble spirit his
mother talked of; though I could see he was not without a certain…
(AGNES. 6,486: 10%)
…take, and the better he liked them, the more he manifested his bold, and manly spirit, and
rose superior to his sisters. Mr. Bloomfield had not much to say a…
(AGNES. 14,877: 22%)
…eyes, as personal visits would have done; and old Lady Ashby's haughty, sour spirit of
reserve withheld her from spreading the news, while her indifferent…
(AGNES. 48,200: 71%)
…first interview. He looked at her not less than usual; and some of her defiant spirit having
come back, she looked full at him in return, not caring—rather…
(DERONDA: 48,244: 16%)
…The simplicity and cheerfulness of her nature, her contented and grateful spirit, were a
recommendation to every body, and a mine of felicity to herself…
(EMMA. 5,576: 4%)
…in spirit ever tell me I am wrong?" "Not your vain spirit, but your serious spirit.--If one leads
you wrong, I am sure the other tells you of it." "I do…
(EMMA. 107,067: 67%)
…me as a kind little nurse (for you have an affectionate heart and a generous spirit, which
prompt you to make sacrifices for those you pity), and that ought…
(JANE. 182,113: 96%)
…So think again." "I have thought--I wish this!" "That's a complaisant spirit--and perhaps you
are right. With a lover hanging about, a half-marriage…
(JUDE. 40,093: 97%)
…expanse of olive-green gorse, and nothing more. Though frequently depressed in spirit when
not actually at work, owing to thoughts of Eustacia's position and…
(NATIVE. 87,356: 62%)
…your beau, at such an hour of the day, in a hurry. You've too much pride and spirit in you for
that. I like to see a girl fly out at the notion of being…
(NORTH. 131,386: 72%)
…but he did not; he seemed in no hurry to leave her; and presently with renewed spirit, with
a little smile, a little glow, he said-- "I have hardly seen…
(PERSU. 59,096: 71%)
…encountered me, with a company of friends, whom thy kind letter had given me a spirit
cheerful enough to join. Nydia's quick ear detected my voice--a few…
(POMP. 56,106: 37%)
…extinguish it?' 'No; but I must breathe my spell over its ray. There is a spirit in fire. Seat
thyself.' The slave obeyed; and Nydia, after bending…
(POMP. 113,728: 76%)
… where I could kindle bliss, infuse awe, stir deep delight, rouse sparkling spirit, and
sometimes waken pleasurable dread. My hopes to will and possess…
(PROF. 61,189: 71%)
…friends are conscious. The people were fired on and sabred. The indignant spirit of Gerard
resisted; he struck down a trooper to the earth, and incited
(SYBIL. 115,120: 98%)
…on the first floor above them; and Rebecca acted the scene with great spirit, and preached
Rawdon's first sermon, to the immense delight of the…
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
33
Aidan O’Connor
17
18
19
20
(VANITY. 123,430: 41%)
…famous and wicked conspiracy of that rascal Wenham. "If you were a man of any spirit, Mr.
Eagles, you would box the wretch's ears the next time you see him a…
(VANITY. 281,445: 93%)
…in my native land: the world calls it an unhallowed one; you, in your proud spirit, will call it a
vain one. But you would not deem it vain if you were the…
(VIVIAN. 44,396: 23%)
…of the poor plain dress that she wore for safety's sake; but the unquenchable spirit of the
woman burnt bright in her even yet. I saw the big tears rise…
(WOMAN. 166,628: 68%)
…of hours. Catherine we would fain have deluded yet; but her own quick spirit refused to
delude her: it divined in secret, and brooded on the dreadful…
WUTH. 91,576: 78%)
Figure 5a) Fury Collocates in Text Corpus.
No.
Concordance Line
1
…were in a state of evident eruption, and gave me fearfully to understand their fury and their
power, by the repeated thunders of the miscalled meteoric stones…
(16,249: 4%)
…over which the face of its master, rigid with horror, was just discernible. The fury of the
beast, who no doubt bore still in mind the dreaded whip, was instant…
(50,576: 12%)
…parent, yet the wind was upon the increase, and blew with a fitful and unsteady fury. About
noon, as nearly as we could guess, our attention was again arrested…
(77,069: 18%)
…its violence gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened
by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norway mile of it…
(105,933: 24%)
…at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon
instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original…
(121,941: 28%)
…which thus proceeded: "And now, the champion, having escaped from the terrible fury of the
dragon, bethinking himself of the brazen shield, and of the breaking…
(131,439: 30%)
…voice husky with rage, while every syllable I uttered seemed as new fuel to my fury,
"scoundrel! impostor! accursed villain! you shall not—you shall not dog me…
(176,466: 40%)
…as in the very moment of their first terrible development. Then came the full fury of my
monomania, and I struggled in vain against its strange and irresistible…
(181,196: 42%)
…resigned myself to die. The sound of my voice seemed to arouse all the latent fury of the
animal. He precipitated himself at full length upon my body; but…
(374,785: 44%)
…nevertheless firm: with all my strength—it still did not give way: with rage, with fury, with
despair—it set at defiance my utmost efforts; and it was evident…
(376,124: 44%)
…While preparations were making to obey his orders, the gale came on with great fury, and
the design was abandoned for the present. The corpse, left to itself…
(391,451: 48%)
…had been practised upon them, for they fought with great resolution and fury, and, but for
the immense muscular strength of Peters, might have ultimately…
(393,712: 48%)
…have often to contend with storms from the northward, which rage with great fury. They
always bring with them a heavy sea, and one of their most dangerous…
(410,617: 52%)
…visible quarters of the island, making toward us with gesticulations of extreme fury, and
howling like wild beasts. We were upon the point of turning upon our…
(433,435: 57%)
…while those upon the mantel-pieces could scarcely contain themselves for fury, and kept
such a continual striking of thirteen, and such a frisking and…
(468,306: 65%)
…lace, and, with its rider, disappeared amid the whirlwind of chaotic fire. The fury of the
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
34
Aidan O’Connor
17
18
19
20
tempest immediately died away, and a dead calm sullenly succeeded. A…
(475,702: 67%)
…fine!—glorious imagination—deep philosophy acute speculation—plenty of fire and fury, and
a good spicing of the decidedly unintelligible. That was a nice bit of…
(483,727: 69%)
…trees near which it passed—the few giants of the forest which had escaped the fury of the
land-slide—I concluded it to be far larger than any ship of the line…
(1,093,858: 84%)
…attached to the individual whose cause he pleaded, and to arouse against him the fury of the
mob. One of the most unaccountable errors committed by the orator…
(1,108,569: 87%)
…there did not fail to be mingled some degree of that nervous anxiety which the fury of a
boisterous night is so well calculated to produce. Whistling to his…
(1,116,367: 89%)
Figure 5b) Fury Collocates in Reference Corpus.
No.
Concordance Line
1
…character, but also in the strong influence over his mind of the last words of fury and
disdain that she had spoken. His eyes gleamed with anger, his cheeks
(ANTO. 52,547: 32%)
…sudden and palpable cunning, more ominous of peril to the fugitive than the fury she had
hitherto displayed. 'You jest at me, because I have failed in…
(ANTO. 55,834: 34%)
…Huddled together, motionless, on the stairs, their shouts of vengeance and fury frozen on
their lips, the assassins stood for one moment, staring mechanic…
(ANTO. 127,191: 77%)
…been more terrible to their eyes. But the priest among the crowd, roused to fury by the
murder of one of their own body, revived the courage of those…
(ANTO. 156,684: 94%)
…apparent and then terribly familiar to him, the storm would burst in fatal fury, and
tempests of tears and cruel thunder-claps of agony would rend that…
(AUDLEY. 122,454: 82%)
…but overtake the wench. And while the revellers stood aghast at the fury of the man, one
more wicked or, it may be, more drunken than the…
(BASKER. 3,202: 6%)
…lifting you to prosperity. I could not forget your conduct to me, Jane -- the fury with which
you once turned on me; the tone in which you declared you…
(JANE. 97,639: 52%)
…convulsive quiver; near to him as I was, I felt the spasmodic movement of fury or despair
run through his frame. The second stranger, who had hitherto…
(JANE. 119,401: 63%)
…to my master: for him I was no more to see; for the desperate grief and fatal fury -consequences of my departure -- which might now, perhaps, be dragging…
(JANE. 149,797: 79%)
…against the wall, nor to comfort it, and make believe to poultice it, when her fury was
abated; for even aunt Glegg would be pitiable when she had been hurt…
(MILL. 9,447: 5%)
…“Devil's Dream." The fury of personal movement that was kindled by the fury of the notes
could be approximately imagined by these outsiders under the…
(NATIVE. 46,320: 33%)
…was profoundly still--the mountain seemed at rest, gathering, perhaps, fresh fury for its
next burst; the torch-bearers moved quickly on. 'We are nearing…
(POMP. 144,358: 97%)
…few moments; but the amazement soon subsided; terror did not succeed, nor fury: after
all, she was only a little nearer than she had ever been before…
(PROF. 72,915: 83%)
…instead of blandishments--kicks instead of kisses; then for the fit of mute fury which will
sicken his body and madden his soul; then for the ordeal of…
(PROF. 87,545: 99%)
… "He was on the parson's ground, sir," replied Mr. Hodson; and Sir Pitt in a fury swore that
if he ever caught 'em poaching on his ground, he'd transport…
(VANITY. 28,887: 10%)
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35
Aidan O’Connor
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…preparing for the outbreak which was to drive all these orderly people into fury and blood;
and lay so many of them low. Everybody had such a perfect fee…
(VANITY. 113,749: 38%)
…I tell you--or you will be ill and die." Becky laughed, though in rage and fury. "What!
assassinate poor little me?" she said. "How romantic! Does my…
(VANITY. 284,328: 94%)
…manifestation of scorn, while his father was near, roused the old man to a fury: he seized
his stick to strike him, and shook with rage that he could not…
(WUTH. 13,110: 10%)
…thin face and large eyes were wrought into an expression of frantic, powerless fury. He
grasped the handle of the door, and shook it: it was fastened inside…
(WUTH. 87,033: 74%)
…fields through which I had hurried, blind, deaf, distracted with a revengeful fury tracking
and scourging me, on the morning I fled from Thornfield: ere I…
(WUTH. 176,785: 94%)
36