Literary writers have employed “flax” as a subtle yet evocative color descriptor, drawing on the natural, pale hue of flax fibers to convey softness, fragility, or an almost ethereal brightness. In some passages, a character’s hair is compared to flax to emphasize a luminous, almost silvery-white quality, suggesting both delicacy and purity [1][2]. In another instance, the term appears in the inventive coinage “flax‑blue,” highlighting a unique, gentle tint that blends the familiar lightness of flax with a cool, nuanced blue [3]. Yet another author uses flax as a yardstick for pallor, describing a widow as growing “paler than the flax on her shuttle,” thereby intensifying the sense of wan, ghostly fragility [4]. These varied uses illustrate how “flax” transcends its literal botanical meaning to serve as a subtle simile in the literary portrayal of delicate and nuanced color.
- Jeannette, sat spinning in the corner behind him; she had large black eyes, and her hair was so white that it looked like flax.
— from The Catholic World, Vol. 17, April, 1873 to September, 1873
A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science by Various
- The hair like flax, blood-dabbled!” “Oh, madame!”
— from Chivalry: Dizain des Reines by James Branch Cabell
- To her new-fangled dress, frilly about the hips and tight below the knees, June took a sudden liking—a charming colour, flax-blue.
— from The Forsyte Saga - Complete by John Galsworthy
- The widow grew paler than the flax on her shuttle.
— from The Last Vendée; or, the She-Wolves of Machecoul by Alexandre Dumas