All 4 Uses of
poignant
in
The House of Mirth
- He had come on her that morning in a moment of disarray; her face had been pale and altered, and the diminution of her beauty had lent her a poignant charm.†
Chpt 1.6 *
- It was in just such company, the fine flower and complete expression of the state she aspired to, that the differences came out with special poignancy, her grace cheapening the other women's smartness as her finely-discriminated silences made their chatter dull.†
Chpt 2.3
- As she leaned back before him, her lids drooping in utter lassitude, though the first warm draught already tinged her face with returning life, Rosedale was seized afresh by the poignant surprise of her beauty.†
Chpt 2.10
- The shabby chest of drawers was spread with a lace cover, and set out with a few gold-topped boxes and bottles, a rose-coloured pin-cushion, a glass tray strewn with tortoise-shell hair-pins—he shrank from the poignant intimacy of these trifles, and from the blank surface of the toilet-mirror above them.†
Chpt 2.14
Definition:
-
(poignant) sharp or intense -- typically arousing deep emotion such as sadness, but possibly having or creating a sharp smell, taste, or insight