All 10 Uses of
dismay
in
Paradise Lost
- But his doom
Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.†Book 1dismay = sadness, disappointment, or worry
- But all sat mute,
Pondering the danger with deep thoughts; and each
In other's countenance read his own dismay,
Astonished.†Book 2 *
- With reason hath deep silence and demur
Seized us, though undismayed.†Book 2undismayed = not sad, disappointed, or worriedstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in undismayed means not and reverses the meaning of dismayed. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- I fled; but he pursued (though more, it seems,
Inflamed with lust than rage), and, swifter far,
Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed,
And, in embraces forcible and foul
Engendering with me, of that rape begot
These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry
Surround me, as thou saw'st—hourly conceived
And hourly born, with sorrow infinite
To me; for, when they list, into the womb
That bred them they return, and howl, and gnaw
My bowels, their repast; then, bursting forth
Afresh, with conscious terrors vex me round,
That rest or intermission none I find.†Book 2
- The Fiend replied not, overcome with rage;
But, like a proud steed reined, went haughty on,
Champing his iron curb: To strive or fly
He held it vain; awe from above had quelled
His heart, not else dismayed.†Book 4
-
And in the midst thus undismayed began.†Book 6undismayed = not sad, disappointed, or worriedstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in undismayed means not and reverses the meaning of dismayed. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- So having said, as one from sad dismay
Recomforted, and after thoughts disturbed
Submitting to what seemed remediless,
Thus in calm mood his words to Eve he turned.†Book 9dismay = sadness, disappointment, or worry
- Assembled Angels, and ye Powers returned
From unsuccessful charge; be not dismayed,
Nor troubled at these tidings from the earth,
Which your sincerest care could not prevent;
Foretold so lately what would come to pass,
When first this tempter crossed the gulf from Hell.†Book 10
- For since I sought
By prayer the offended Deity to appease;
Kneeled, and before him humbled all my heart;
Methought I saw him placable and mild,
Bending his ear; persuasion in me grew
That I was heard with favour; peace returned
Home to my breast, and to my memory
His promise, that thy seed shall bruise our foe;
Which, then not minded in dismay, yet now
Assures me that the bitterness of death
Is past, and we shall live.†Book 11dismay = sadness, disappointment, or worry
- Much at that sight was Adam in his heart
Dismayed, and thus in haste to the Angel cried.†Book 11
Definition:
to feel sadness, disappointment, or worry -- typically in response to something surprising