Literary notes about Beacon (AI summary)
Writers use "beacon" both as a literal light source and as a rich metaphor for guidance, hope, and enlightenment. In nautical narratives, it often describes a luminous signal piercing darkness to guide sailors or signal safe passage, as seen in passages where the Nautilus’s beacon shines amid turbulent seas ([1], [2], [3]). On land, the word marks a physical landmark or town feature—evoking stability and identity, as in references to Beacon Hills or Beacon Street ([4], [5]). At the same time, authors employ "beacon" metaphorically to represent the inspiring light of knowledge, leadership, or divine presence, imbuing it with a sense of both literal and figurative illumination ([6], [7], [8]).
- Once past the petrified forest, I could see the Nautilus's beacon twinkling like a star.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - The ship's beacon lit up that whole placid surface, which experienced neither ripples nor undulations.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Leaning my elbows on the beacon housing, which jutted from the stern of the platform, I got set to scour that whole stretch of sky and sea.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - “He is Squire Gordon, of Birtwick Park, the other side the Beacon Hills,” said James.
— from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - Harvard College remained a tie, indeed, but a tie little stronger than Beacon Street and not so strong as State Street.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams - Dalton made the atom a beacon-light which revealed to chemists paths that led them to wider and more accurate knowledge.
— from The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry by M. M. Pattison (Matthew Moncrieff Pattison) Muir - O shining light, O beacon, polestar, path and guide of all
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - Transcendentalism is a beacon to the angels, even if it be a will-o’-the-wisp to man.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker
