Literary notes about Fragrant (AI summary)
The word “fragrant” in literature is used to evoke a rich sensory experience that goes beyond mere smell, imbuing objects and settings with emotional and symbolic resonance. It frequently enhances descriptions of nature and everyday life, as when lotus petals transform water into something imbued with beauty and purity [1], or when the air itself is portrayed as “fragrant with laurel and lemon” to suggest both freshness and vitality [2]. The term also serves a metaphorical role—conjuring images of ephemeral, ghostly beauty in haunting landscapes [3] or marking the bittersweet character of human experience, as in descriptions that blend allure with critique [4]. Across varied contexts—from pastoral scenes to intimate domestic spaces—the adjective is a subtle yet powerful tool to invoke layers of meaning and sensory delight.
- The old man then sprinkled over the crownless head of the monarch water that was cold and rendered fragrant with lotus-petals.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - The air is ‘fragrant with laurel and lemon.’
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - the wounds of thy life's span will be; What time a desolate tree in two places will live, Back to its native home the fragrant ghost will flee!
— from Hung Lou Meng, or, the Dream of the Red Chamber, a Chinese Novel, Book I by Xueqin Cao - "'Gentlemen,' he said, 'the fragrant honors you here bestow are incongruously mingled with the putrid odors of your past contempt.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
