Literary works employ "eclipse" in a variety of ways, ranging from its literal astronomical meaning to a rich metaphor for loss, obscurity, or the overshadowing of one element by another. In historical texts, the term records significant celestial events with calendrical precision, as when Thucydides describes an eclipse of the full moon ([1]) or notes other pivotal astronomical phenomena ([2], [3]). At the same time, writers use "eclipse" metaphorically to indicate the temporary or permanent diminution of light, reason, or social prominence; for instance, Bradley’s reflection on reason being blotted out ([4]) and Dickens’s portrayal of social vitality fading ([5]). The term is also playfully repurposed, such as when it names a famous racehorse, evoking speed and brilliance before a dramatic decline ([6]), while other authors evoke personal or institutional decline by comparing it to an eclipse of vitality or influence ([7], [8]).
- All was at last ready, and they were on the point of sailing away, when an eclipse of the moon, which was then at the full, took place.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
- 384 This eclipse occurred September 20th, B.C. 331.
— from The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian
- In the year 538, an eclipse of the sun came to pass on the 16th of February, from the first hour until the third.
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Saint the Venerable Bede
- [191] We remember these words later, when the sun of reason is 'collied,' blackened and blotted out in total eclipse.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley
- But the sun of his sociality soon recovers from this brief eclipse and shines again.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens
- The celebrated racehorse Eclipse is said to have run a mile in a minute, but poor Eclipse is left sadly behind by this expression.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley
- Owing to my failure in definite testimony, my experience suffered partial eclipse, and my last year at Oak Grove was more or less dark and unhappy.
— from The Heart-Cry of Jesus by Byron J. Rees
- I would have taken him up in a minute, but I couldn’t stop an eclipse; the thing was out of the question.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain