Literary notes about PILE (AI summary)
The word "pile" appears in literature with a rich diversity of meanings and nuances. It can denote a physical heap of objects, whether a somber funeral pyre ([1], [2], [3]) or a messy accumulation of everyday items like papers or wood ([4], [5], [6]). At times it conveys order and design, such as in heraldic descriptions where a "pile" forms a striking geometric shape ([7], [8]), while in other contexts it symbolizes overwhelming force or chaos, as when emotions or circumstances are said to "pile on" ([9], [10]). The term also evokes vivid imagery in poetic and epic narratives, where it may represent massive, almost mythic collections—be they corpses rising like monuments in battle ([11], [12], [13]) or luminous deposits that both dazzle and foretell fate ([14], [15]). This versatility underscores its enduring appeal across genres, enriching both narrative texture and symbolic expression.
- bæl-wudu , st. m., wood for the funeral-pile , 3113 .
— from I. Beówulf: an Anglo-Saxon poem. II. The fight at Finnsburh: a fragment. - A man of pretorian rank affirmed upon oath, that he saw his spirit ascend from the funeral pile to heaven.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - Let us also build Kamala's funeral pile on the same hill on which I had then built my wife's funeral pile.
— from Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse - Then pile your tent into a tub and pour in the turpentine and paraffin mixture.
— from Boy Scouts Handbook by Boy Scouts of America - He did not give it to mother but laid it in a pile on our kitchen table.
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson - Jo thought what a blaze her pile of papers upstairs would make, and her hard-earned money lay rather heavily on her conscience at that minute.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott - THE PILE The pile (Fig. 143) is a triangular wedge usually (and unless otherwise specified) issuing from the chief.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies - A single pile may issue from any point of the escutcheon except the base; the arms of Darbishire showing a pile issuing from the dexter chief point.
— from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies - "Pile it on, men, pile it on!" cried Holmes, looking down into the engine-room, while the fierce glow from below beat upon his eager, aquiline face.
— from The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle - I thought that that honest man Sawyer would choke himself; and as for the bludgeons, they performed like pile-drivers.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain - Countless corpses lay round the king's chariot, and the horrid heap overtopped the wheels; the pile of carcases rose as high as the pole.
— from The Danish History, Books I-IX by Grammaticus Saxo - Till on the pile the gather'd tempest falls.
— from The Iliad by Homer - Let on Patroclus' pile your blast be driven, And bear the blazing honours high to heaven.
— from The Iliad by Homer - The somber frame and the glowing snow-pile are startlingly contrasted.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain - From blazing pile to pile he sprang, And loud his shout of triumph rang, As roars the doomsday cloud when all The worlds in dissolution fall.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki