Literary notes about Slender (AI summary)
The term "slender" emerges in literature as a versatile descriptor that connotes delicacy and elegance, whether referring to human features or inanimate objects. It is commonly found in passages that evoke a refined or graceful image—characterizing a slight figure, a delicate hand, or a graceful voice as in [1], [2], and [3]—while also being used metaphorically to suggest a tenuous basis or minimal support, as seen when it describes flimsy foundations or limited resources in [4] and [5]. Additionally, slender extends beyond mere physicality, illustrating the refined shape of architectural elements like spires and columns ([6], [7]), as well as the subtle, measured quality of abstract or natural forms ([8], [9]). This multifaceted use lends a lyrical lightness and precision to descriptions across a broad literary spectrum.
- It was not long before Nancy saw her—the slender little girl in the red-checked gingham with two fat braids of flaxen hair hanging down her back.
— from Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter - Shivering, she pulled a silk shawl over her slender shoulders as she locked the door.
— from The Trial by Franz Kafka - Pearl-white and slender, she shone beneath the stars.
— from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois - This is not at all to impugn Mr. Brisbane's motives, but merely to indicate on what slender strings such an editorial may depend.
— from The International Jew : The World's Foremost Problem by Anonymous - But fashion changes too rapidly to make value of material always wise expenditure for one of slender purse.
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - The church with the slender spire, that stands on the top of the hill now, was not there then to tell me the time.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - The sunshine streamed through the painted glass windows, and between two lofty slender pillars.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - This for her was but a very slender supplement, although preferable to absolute solitude, which she could not support.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The root is small and slender, perishing every year.
— from The Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper
