dullness vs verve

dullness

noun
  • The quality of not perceiving or kenning things distinctly. 

  • The quality of being uninteresting; boring; humorless or irksome. 

  • The quality of being slow of understanding things; stupidity. 

  • Lack of interest or excitement. 

  • The lack of visual brilliance; want of sheen. 

  • bluntness. 

verve

noun
  • Enthusiasm, rapture, spirit, or vigour, especially of imagination such as that which animates an artist, musician, or writer, in composing or performing. 

How often have the words dullness and verve occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )