Literary notes about Block (AI summary)
The word "block" is employed in literature with a surprising range of nuances, seamlessly bridging the tangible and the abstract. In some contexts it denotes a literal solid mass—a heavy stone or a piece of wood shaping buildings and landscapes [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]—or even serves as a technical component in machinery or printing processes [6, 7, 8]. At other moments it functions metaphorically as an obstacle or hindrance that impedes progress or understanding—an intellectual or emotional stumbling block [9, 10, 11]—while occasionally it takes on a more personal dimension, representing a character or identity as in the case of individuals named Block or described in clawing, unyielding terms [12, 13, 14]. This linguistic versatility enriches narratives by layering concrete imagery with symbolic significance, allowing authors to explore themes of strength, resistance, and limitation all at once [15, 16, 17].
- This inert body that is only like a block of wood when destitute of souls, is, without doubt, short lived like froth in the ocean.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - Inside the bell is tackle for grappling any object that has to be moved, such as a heavy stone block.
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams - The whole house looked like a block of solid marble, for it was covered with marble without as well as within, and must have cost immense sums.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Many and many years have passed away since the return of Saknussemm, and the fall of this huge block of granite.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - They have descended a gentle slope, and enter upon a level, as compact and dry as a solid block of marble, two miles long.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - B is a block which can partly revolve on a pin projecting [Pg 64] from the valve rod, working through a guide, G .
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams - We may now pass to the working of the block system of signalling trains from station to station on one line of a double track.
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams - The volume is printed throughout by the xylographic method, that is to say, each page of text is printed from one wood-block which was carved by hand.
— from Doctrina Christiana - Moreover, the question of providing coal for the engines proved—as in the case of the [ 119 ] Gas Company—to be another serious stumbling block.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - This story has been a prodigious stumbling-block to former translators, not one of whom appears to have had the slightest idea of Boccaccio's meaning.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio - Let not that be a stumbling-block, and think not that it may serve as a justification to you for anything.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - It was the first time the lawyer had spoken any clear words directly to Block.
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka - But Block was punished for K.'s outburst, as the lawyer asked him, "Who is your lawyer?"
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka - Block fully understood what that meant, he glowered at K., shaking his head violently.
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka - This method of mounting is preferable to a step or horse-block.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley - On open ground, do not try to block the enemy's way.
— from The Art of War by active 6th century B.C. Sunzi - “Everybody says I’m a chip off the old block,” remarked Paul, quite at his ease.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery
