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Literary notes about Cynosure (AI summary)

In literature, cynosure is used to denote something or someone that irresistibly attracts attention and functions as a focal point in a scene. Authors often employ the term to describe a character’s magnetic allure or the captivating nature of an object or idea. For instance, a narrator might lament being the cynosure of all eyes, as seen in [1] or [2], while other works liken a heroine’s presence to a guiding star, much like the imagery suggested in [3] and [4]. The word is also used metaphorically to evoke grandeur and significance, whether in describing an imperial figure in [5] and [6] or in capturing the symbolic brightness of a celestial reference in [7] and [8]. Across genres, cynosure thus enriches descriptions by highlighting the central, irresistible quality of its subject.
  1. Here I was very unhappy, being, as the editor of the Green River Gazette would say, “the cynosure of all eyes.”
    — from Remarks by Bill Nye
  2. The upshot of it is that I am the cynosure of all eyes, and though hidden to sight, I am eminent.
    — from Short Stories by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  3. In the midst of all this beauty and grandeur, she was the cynosure of eye and heart.
    — from The Memories of Fifty YearsContaining Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest by W. H. (William Henry) Sparks
  4. Christine was usually present, radiant, brilliant, the cynosure of all eyes, but ever coolly self-possessed.
    — from Barriers Burned Away by Edward Payson Roe
  5. His august Majesty, the Emperor Aurelius, occupied the imperial box, and was the cynosure of all eyes.
    — from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
  6. The first figure of the growing capital of St. Louis, the new Governor was also the central figure of all social activities, the cynosure of all eyes.
    — from The Magnificent Adventure Being the Story of the World's Greatest Exploration and the Romance of a Very Gallant Gentleman by Emerson Hough
  7. In the northwest turned the Great Dipper with its pointers round the Cynosure.
    — from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman
  8. The last star in the tail of the Little Bear is the Pole-star, called also the Cynosure.
    — from Bulfinch's Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch

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