Literary notes about Architecture (AI summary)
In literature, the term "architecture" is employed not only to describe physical structures but also to evoke a deeper symbolism that connects cultural identity, aesthetics, and order. It often serves as a metaphor for the ordered framework of society or the intricate design of human thought, as seen in discussions of classical principles where design and order (in the sense of arrangement and proportion) are paramount [1]. Authors sometimes use the term to capture the grandeur of constructed spaces—the majestic, almost mythic quality of Byzantine or Gothic forms [2][3]—while at other times it implies a more abstract architecture of values and ideas that underpins human civilization [4]. In this way, architecture in literature straddles the tangible and the conceptual, providing a rich lens through which the organization of both physical environments and societal constructs can be appreciated [5].
- Architecture depends on Order (in Greek τἁξις), Arrangement (in Greek διἁθεσις), Eurythmy, Symmetry, Propriety, and Economy (in Greek οἱκονομἱα).
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio - You are forty feet under ground, and in the midst of a perfect wilderness of tall, slender, granite columns, of Byzantine architecture.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - This cavern was a picturesque mixture of all the styles of Byzantine, Roman, or Gothic architecture ever produced by the hand of man.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - The hierarchy of goods, the architecture of values, is the subject that concerns man most.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - A sentimental reformer in architecture, he began at the cornice, not at the foundation.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
