Word: solemn
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Given the rigorous informality and artless effervescence required by the ceremonies of modern politics, John Kerry's rise to prominence is difficult to explain. His is a solemn New England sensibility. I have never seen him experience a moment of spontaneous wit; his nonspontaneous attempts at humor are ghastly. He is not a very compelling speaker. Indeed, when attempting to answer the most basic of questions--his position on the war in Iraq, for example--he tends to entwine himself in endless codicils and subclauses. And yet the Senator from Massachusetts breezed through the Democratic presidential primaries this year...
...beginning of his papacy, I admit, I had my doubts. Shortly after becoming Pope, John Paul decided to visit Auschwitz. It was a gesture certain to touch many survivors. But during that solemn occasion, he decided to conduct a Mass for the dead amid still-constant reminders of the victims' tragic fate. The great majority if not the near totality of those killed were Jews from all over occupied Europe. The Pope prayed with genuine grief for the Christians. But why didn't he invite a rabbi and nine Jews to have a minyan to recite the Kaddish for these...
According to Plan of Attack, Bob Woodward's new book about the events leading to the war in Iraq, George W. Bush was struck by the stone-faced response to his eloquent address to the U.N. General Assembly in September 2002. "The more solemn they looked to me," he tells Woodward, speaking of the U.N. delegates, "the more emotional I was in making the case. Not openly emotional, the more firm I was in making the case. It was a speech I really enjoyed giving." A few weeks later, he tells some members of Congress about the moment: "There were...
Sandvoss says he didn’t take immediately to the story; he had trouble “buying” the stormy love story between the solemn missionary and superficial party boy, but after a few reads and meetings with the producer and director, he says he became a believer...
Extremities numbed, uncorking the weakest throw shivers ligaments from the forearm to the elbow, creaks the joints, and beckons the piercing winds—in all, a solemn sacrifice of “enjoyment” for the sobering sake of arm upkeep...