Literary notes about Cornice (AI summary)
The word "cornice" has been used in literature both as a precise architectural detail and as a symbolic element that enriches the narrative. In works by Dickens ([1]) and Irving ([2]), the cornice is depicted as a refined decorative feature that crowns walls and imparts an air of elegance, while in H.G. Wells ([3], [4]) and Hardy ([5]), it becomes a dynamic part of the spatial composition, sometimes lending a whimsical or mysterious quality to the scene. Authors like Sinclair Lewis ([6]) and even classical writers such as Homer ([7]) and Herodotus ([8]) employ the term to evoke grandeur or emphasize structural prominence, showing how this architectural element can serve both practical and poetic purposes. Thus, across diverse texts—from Chekhov’s subdued descriptions ([9]) to Riis’s satirical architectural reform ([10])—the cornice consistently functions as a marker of aesthetic detail and as a subtle narrative device that anchors the reader in a vividly realized space.
- The walls were ornamented with the choicest specimens of French paper, enriched with a gilded cornice of elegant design.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - Above the cases, and just under the cornice, were arranged a great number of black-looking portraits of ancient authors.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - There he was, right up close to the cornice in the corner by the door, as though some one had glued him to the ceiling.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - And the cornice had a serpentine design with masks—masks altogether too expressive for proper plaster.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - Upon the cornice of the tower a tall staff was fixed.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - Its shining walls rose against April sky to a simple cornice like a streak of white fire.
— from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis - The walls on either side were of bronze from end to end, and the cornice was of blue enamel.
— from The Odyssey by Homer - There is in this sacred enclosure a house of Leto made of one single stone upon the top, the cornice measuring four cubits.
— from An Account of Egypt by Herodotus - Below it was the dusty cornice, and lower still the wall, which had once been painted a bluish muddy color.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - His way was to give the wretched pile a coat of paint, and put a gorgeous tin cornice on with the year 1890 in letters a yard long.
— from How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York by Jacob A. Riis
