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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.
  1. bæl-wudu , st. m., wood for the funeral-pile , 3113 .
    — from I. Beówulf: an Anglo-Saxon poem. II. The fight at Finnsburh: a fragment.
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. Then pile your tent into a tub and pour in the turpentine and paraffin mixture.
    — from Boy Scouts Handbook by Boy Scouts of America
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. "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
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. Till on the pile the gather'd tempest falls.
    — from The Iliad by Homer
  13. Let on Patroclus' pile your blast be driven, And bear the blazing honours high to heaven.
    — from The Iliad by Homer
  14. The somber frame and the glowing snow-pile are startlingly contrasted.
    — from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain
  15. 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

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