Literary notes about ashen (AI summary)
The term "ashen" is employed in literature to evoke a visual and emotional pallor that signifies fear, shock, or a ghostly, lifeless quality. Writers use it to describe a character’s face turning pale in moments of distress or terror—capturing sudden disbelief, sorrow, or the onset of death, as seen when a character's complexion becomes ashen white, signaling an acute emotional or physical crisis [1][2][3]. In epic narratives, "ashen" often extends to inanimate objects like weapons, imbuing them with a somber, almost mythic character, as when a spear is described as "ashen" to add to the solemn mood of battle [4][5]. Additionally, the adjective enriches atmospheric descriptions, evoking bleak and desolate landscapes where the world itself seems drained of vitality and color [6][7].
- She stared at him with an ashen face and gulped twice before she could speak.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - I saw his poor face turning ashen, and heard the breath begin to rattle in his throat.
— from She by H. Rider Haggard - He was coming downstairs with quaking legs; his face was ashen white, and he leaned heavily on the banisters.
— from Four Short Stories By Emile Zola by Émile Zola - And often hither and thither did he leap high in air tossing in his hands his shield of bronze and ashen spear.
— from The Argonautica by Rhodius Apollonius - And he had an ashen spear in his hand, with a round shaft, coloured with azure blue.
— from The Mabinogion - A pattern of wild geese, flying low and unconcerned above the hills, wavered against the serene ashen evening.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - Even over the snowy surfaces above there prevailed an almost ashen gray, which reflected itself from the dull, drifting sky.
— from Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King
