Literary notes about Meander (AI summary)
The word “meander” assumes a range of functions in literature, often evoking a sinuous, wandering motion or path. In some works it describes the natural, curving flow of water or the labyrinthine structure of streets, as seen in passages that note a river’s graceful twist or urban thoroughfares that “meander” ([1], [2], [3]). In other texts the term captures the idea of aimless movement or digressive thought, conveying both physical and mental wandering in characters’ journeys ([4], [5], [6]). Additionally, “meander” appears as a proper noun in dramatic literature—most notably within the works of Christopher Marlowe—where the name is imbued with symbolic weight and used to underscore themes of unpredictability and authority ([7], [8], [9]). Its presence even extends to the realm of decorative arts through patterns that echo a continual, ornamental twist reflective of classical Greek design traditions ([10], [11], [12]).
- This side of the pyramids he saw the Nile meander among palm groves and tilled fields.
— from Four Weird Tales by Algernon Blackwood - The streets meander in and out, and up and down, overarched and balconied, but very clean.
— from Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, First Series by John Addington Symonds - "Addison's Walk" is in the little wood round which two branches of the Cherwell meander with a mazy motion.
— from History of English Literature from "Beowulf" to Swinburne by Andrew Lang - Not to meander myself, at present, I will go back to my birth.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - Who cares about the looks of a castaway like me!" Her journey back was rather a meander than a march.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - He would take both and meander round in an aimless sort of way.
— from Sinners and Saints
A Tour Across the States and Round Them, with Three Months Among the Mormons by Phil Robinson - The lords and captains of my brother's camp With little slaughter take Meander's course, And gladly yield them to my gracious rule.
— from Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1 by Christopher Marlowe - no, a foe; Monster of nature, shame unto thy stock, That dar'st presume thy sovereign for to mock!— Meander, come: I am abus'd, Meander.
— from Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1 by Christopher Marlowe - Was there such brethren, sweet Meander, say, That sprung of teeth of dragons venomous? MEANDER.
— from Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1 by Christopher Marlowe - The third border, which remains on the ends only, carries the Greek meander in blue and white upon a red ground.
— from The Practical Book of Oriental Rugs by G. Griffin (George Griffin) Lewis - Pottery ornamented with triangular lines and the "meander" pattern would seem to point to a later period.
— from The Lake-Dwellings of EuropeBeing the Rhind Lectures in Archæology for 1888 by Robert Munro - Fragments of Greek vase with lion and three meander Swastikas.
— from The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migration
With Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times by Thomas Wilson