Literary notes about Inaccessible (AI summary)
Literature deploys the term "inaccessible" to evoke not only physical separation but also a range of intangible distances—be they psychological, metaphysical, or social. In some writings, it underlines physical remoteness: a towering window so distant it cannot be reached from within ([1]), or rugged mountains guarding secluded retreats ([2], [3]). In other instances, the word conveys an abstract or emotional remoteness, as when characters or ideas remain beyond the grasp of ordinary understanding, such as hidden recesses of thought or forbidden states of mind ([4], [5]). It also imparts a sense of otherworldly or exalted isolation, in depictions of distant thrones ([6]), inaccessible yogis ([7]), or even sublime, unattainable virtues ([8]). By oscillating between the concrete and the ethereal, "inaccessible" enriches narrative textures, highlighting the chasms—whether physical, psychological, or metaphysical—that separate individuals from their environments or inner selves.
- The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - Their craggy rocks, a branch of the wide-extended Taurus, protected their inaccessible retreat.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - For a league they had to creep from rock to rock, until at length they discovered an extensive plain, bounded by inaccessible mountains.
— from Candide by Voltaire - These are not only manifold but multiform, and lie frequently among recesses of thought altogether inaccessible to the ordinary understanding.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1 by Edgar Allan Poe - Instead of hidden, unapproachable, unreal, let us give a truer description and say inaccessible or unknown to the consciousness of the dreamer.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - 46 His throne was distant and inaccessible; but they instantly resolved to bestow on the flock of Ephesus the blessing of a faithful shepherd.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The yogi was inaccessible to the general public.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - To Anna, he was the majesty of the inaccessible male, the majesty of death.
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence