Literary notes about Divinity (AI summary)
The word divinity in literature often functions as a multifaceted symbol, denoting not only the realm of deities and sacred power but also an inner, transcendent quality that shapes human destiny. It appears when discussing gods and religious worship, as in references to a peculiar female divinity venerated in Southern India [1] or the divine figures celebrated in myth and statuary [2][3]. At the same time, divinity is employed to indicate the sublime, ineffable spark within human nature—the force that “shapes our ends” [4][5]—or the lofty ideals pursued through scholarly devotion, as seen in the designation of divinity students and doctors of divinity [6][7]. Such usage reflects literature’s capacity to weave together the spiritual, the mythological, and the existential in a single, resonant term.
- Atavi is a peculiar female divinity worshipped by the caste, by whose help these feats are believed to be performed in the main.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston - As the divinity whose power is developed in the broad light of day, he brings joy and delight to nature, and health and prosperity to man.
— from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens - The celebrated Venus of Milo, now in the Louvre, is an exquisite statue of this divinity.
— from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens - How fortunate that— "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will. "
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will."
— from The Crooked Stick; Or, Pollie's Probation by Rolf Boldrewood - Robert Gilbert, doctor of divinity, dean of York, consecrated bishop of London, sat twelve years, deceased 1448.
— from The Survey of London by John Stow - He studied for some time in the University of Oxford, and afterwards in that of Paris, in which he received the degree of doctor of divinity.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay
