poignancy

Then, after a short silence, the music resumed, but now with the addition of Mr. Muhly on prepared piano, lending ineffable poignancy to strains of unsentimental emotionalism.

The poignancy of this cruel spiritual appropriation is pictured by Jon Henry in 14 photographs of Black mothers cradling sons, their pietà poses sprawled at actual locations of police killings of Black men.

Even so, I could not gain any purchase on this novel, which has unearned confidence in the poignancy of what seems like a very tedious relationship.

That said, the moment when Didi and Gogo throw themselves into a frantic hug—as if only by touching one another can they be sure they still exist—has breathtaking poignancy.

Indeed, to the author’s great credit, “The Colonel and the King” finds new levels of poignancy in their extraordinary, genre-eclipsing association.