Literary notes about Amphibious (AI summary)
The term "amphibious" has been deployed in literature with a rich blend of literal and metaphorical connotations. Early texts such as Strabo's Geography ([1]) and Cicero's Tusculan Disputations ([2]) invoke it to describe creatures and natural phenomena that exist in both water and on land, reinforcing its literal zoological roots. Over time, however, authors expanded its semantic horizon: Bret Harte ([3]) employed the word to evoke a damp, dual-natured flavor, while Marco Polo ([4]) used it to signify a liminal, in-between state marked by distinctive attire. Alexander Pope ([5], [6]) and Lewis Carroll ([7]) adapted "amphibious" to suggest a quality of ambiguity or strangeness in characters or peoples. Edith Wharton ([8]) even used it metaphorically to describe adaptability in challenging environments, and Washington Irving ([9]) painted beings that defy simple categorization. George Santayana ([10]) ultimately encapsulated this dual allegiance by characterizing literary prose itself as "amphibious," embodying two worlds at once. This evolution reveals a flexible literary tool that spans the concrete to the abstract, symbolizing both biological reality and metaphorical complexity.
- The Nile contributes to fecundity more than other rivers, and among other animals of large bulk, produces the amphibious kind.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - Some creatures inhabit the earth, some the water, and some, of an amphibious nature, live in both.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero - So were the few green tussocks, with their scant blades, their amphibious flavor, and unpleasant dampness.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte - As a sign of their amphibious position, they commonly wear a red or yellow girdle.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - } Amphibious thing!
— from An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope - Amphibious thing!
— from The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems by Alexander Pope - Such accidents are only laughed at by this almost amphibious people.
— from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - "Yes; but I have tried to remain amphibious: it's all right as long as one's lungs can work in another air.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - A group of amphibious-looking beings, who might be either fishermen or sailors, were regaling themselves in one of the boxes.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - A literary prose accordingly owns a double allegiance, and its life is amphibious.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
