Literary notes about OBELISK (AI summary)
Literary usage of the term "obelisk" spans a wide range of meanings and functions, from a marker of historical memory to a striking symbol of architectural grandeur and myth. In historical narratives, it appears as a monument commemorating important events or personages, such as in references to Roman commemorative pieces or ancient Egyptian relics ([1], [2], [3]), while other texts emphasize its physical dimensions and meticulous construction details ([4], [5], [6]). Poets and novelists also deploy the obelisk as a metaphor, its towering, inscrutable presence evoking themes of permanence, mystery, or even melancholy ([7], [8], [9]). Meanwhile, its depiction in settings as varied as bustling urban streets and quiet, contemplative gardens highlights its dual role as both a tangible monument and a potent symbol in the literary imagination ([10], [11], [12]).
- Adams, of Philadelphia, marked by an Egyptian obelisk of granite.
— from The Philadelphia Magazines and their Contributors 1741-1850 by Albert Henry Smyth - The Kingstown obelisk commemorates his departure from his Irish dominions.
— from Romantic Ireland; volume 1/2 by Blanche McManus - The obelisk now in New York is one of a pair erected at Heliopolis, before the Temple of the Sun, about 1600 B.C.
— from Handbook of Universal Literature, From the Best and Latest Authorities by Anne C. Lynch (Anne Charlotte Lynch) Botta - The height of the obelisk itself is 113 palms, or 84 feet.]
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - This obelisk is a solid piece of red granite, without hieroglyphics, and, with the pedestal and ornaments at the top, is 182 feet high.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - The dimensions of the obelisk at the base are six feet by four feet eight inches.
— from The Backwoods of Canada Being Letters from the Wife of an Emigrant Officer, Illustrative of the Domestic Economy of British America by Catharine Parr Strickland Traill - Even his cuff-buttons were engraved with hieroglyphics, and he was more inscribed than an Egyptian obelisk.
— from My Ántonia by Willa Cather - In the darkness of the dome they wait, their pushedback chairs, my obelisk valise, around a board of abandoned platters.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - An obelisk looming up stately and cold in your dreams is the forerunner of melancholy tidings.
— from Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted; Or, What's in a Dream A Scientific and Practical Exposition by Gustavus Hindman Miller - The fountain sparkled in the sun; the obelisk above pierced the clear dark-blue air.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - " Following the taste of his times in landscape gardening, he adorned his lawns with artificial mounds, a shell temple, an obelisk, and a colonnade.
— from The Rape of the Lock, and Other Poems by Alexander Pope - There was only the lofty, livid, ghost-like obelisk, emerging between its four candelabra, from the mosaic pavement of red and serpentine porphyry.
— from The Three Cities Trilogy, CompleteLourdes, Rome and Paris by Émile Zola
