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Literary notes about Landscape (AI summary)

The term “landscape” in literature is remarkably versatile, functioning not only as a description of the physical world but also as a metaphor for internal and societal states. In some works the word paints vivid, natural vistas—a field of health and color in a pastoral setting ([1]) or the broad, shifting canvases of nature that evoke both freedom and melancholy ([2], [3]). In other texts, however, it carries dramatic, almost cinematic qualities, depicting scenes where natural elements act as catalysts for change, as in the explosive alterations that transform the environment into a dynamic diorama ([4], [5]). Beyond its literal use, “landscape” frequently assumes a symbolic role, representing human creativity and even mechanization, where it stands in for constructed or ideological backdrops ([6], [7]). Overall, the multifaceted use of “landscape” deepens narrative texture, inviting readers to consider both the tangible world and the abstract realms of emotion and culture.
  1. It was the first day of June, and the sheep-shearing season culminated, the landscape, even to the leanest pasture, being all health and colour.
    — from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
  2. To the right the towers of Rouen stood out against the sky, and to the left the landscape was bounded by the distant slopes covered with trees.
    — from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
  3. “Look!” said the Padre, stretching his hand over the spreading landscape.
    — from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte
  4. Detonations and falls were heard on all sides, great overthrows of icebergs, which altered the whole landscape like a diorama.
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne
  5. Then explosions, cave–ins, and great iceberg somersaults would occur all around us, altering the scenery like the changing landscape in a diorama.
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne
  6. In these regions where science is denied we shall have to be satisfied with landscape-painting.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  7. And the chicks that at first follow her and find shelter under her wings will soon be forgotten also and relegated to the mechanical landscape.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana

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