Throughout literary works, silver emerges as a multifaceted symbol, functioning both as a tangible material and an emblem imbued with rich, sometimes ethereal qualities. It is frequently invoked to denote monetary value, whether in the form of coins, as in transactions of high worth [1, 2, 3], or as a measure of economic exchange [4]. At the same time, silver graces the pages as a descriptor of refined and luminous beauty—a superb ewer [5], ornate candlesticks [6], and even the gleam of moonlit beams that evoke an almost magical luminescence [7, 8]. Authors also lend the name Silver to characters, enriching their persona with an air of mystery and substance [9, 10]. In each instance, whether illustrating trade, aesthetics, or character, silver encapsulates both the empirical and the transcendent within the narrative world.
- ‘I gave a lump of silver as big as my head for it.’
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
- But they appointed him thirty pieces of silver.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
- The English pound sterling, in the time of Edward I. contained a pound, Tower weight, of silver of a known fineness.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
- This sum in 1423, the year at which he begins with it, contained the same quantity of silver as sixteen shillings of our present money.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
- D’Artagnan stopped to look at a sideboard on which was a superb ewer of silver.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
- —We have four sperm candles in four silver candlesticks and when we have company we light them.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park
- But to-night it seemed to Linda there was something infinitely joyful and loving in those silver beams.
— from The Garden Party, and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield
- The northern morning o'er thee shoot High up, in silver spikes!
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson
- ,” said the doctor, “contrary to all my notions, I believed you have managed to get two honest men on board with you—that man and John Silver.”
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
- I forgot to tell you that Silver is a man of substance; I know of my own knowledge that he has a banker's account, which has never been overdrawn.
— from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson