The word "pearl" in literature serves both as a literal gem and a rich metaphor, symbolizing beauty, purity, and valuable uniqueness. In some works it describes physical attributes—such as a girl's radiant smile or the gleam of dawn ([1], [2], [3])—while in others it is used as a striking character name that encapsulates both innocence and the burden of hidden meanings ([4], [5], [6], [7]). Authors also employ “pearl” to evoke images of elegance and treasure, whether adorning garments and accessories ([8], [9], [10]) or appearing as coveted objects in narratives of mystery and adventure ([11], [12], [13]). Thus, across various texts the term emerges as a multifaceted symbol, intertwining themes of beauty, worth, and the underlying complexity of human experience ([14], [15]).
- Her cheeks were as pink as a rose-bud, Her teeth were as white as a pearl, Her lips were as red as a cherry, Most truly a beautiful girl.
— from Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes
- The dawn was white as a pearl, clear as a diamond.
— from Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery
- It is pleasant to sit in the green wood, and to watch the Sun in his chariot of gold, and the Moon in her chariot of pearl.
— from The Happy Prince, and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde
- “Come, my child!” said Hester, looking about her from the spot where Pearl had stood still in the sunshine.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- “Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?” inquired Pearl.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- "What has the letter to do with any heart save mine?" "Nay, mother, I have told all I know," said Pearl, more seriously than she was wont to speak.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- “I am mother's child,” answered the scarlet vision, “and my name is Pearl!”
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Then she would wind the pearl necklace round her fingers, make the facets of the crystal gems sparkle, and say: “Look!
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
- She wore a short black jacket with mother-of-pearl buttons and a ragged black boa.
— from Dubliners by James Joyce
- Beautiful forms leaned over frames glowing with embroidery, and beautiful frames leaned over forms inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte
- In this war the Huns got, or at least Perozes lost, the finest pearl in the world, of which Procopius relates a ridiculous fable.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
- Of all that marvelous collection, nothing remained except the famous black pearl.
— from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc
- By that time, of course, I knew for certain that it was the Borgia pearl that we were after.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- “Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina,” he said, “pearl among women!
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker
- “And that is how crime is always punished and virtue rewarded,” said Arsène Lupin, after he had told me the foregoing history of the black pearl.
— from The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc