Literary notes about adamant (AI summary)
In literature, the term "adamant" is employed to evoke images of unyielding strength and resolute firmness, whether describing tangible materials or inner character. It appears to denote an impervious, almost mythical quality in physical objects—a mountain, a gate, even a celestial substance—imbued with an unbreakable nature, as when a barrier is likened to a "gate of adamant" [1] or a mountain itself is described as being of adamant [2]. Simultaneously, it characterizes a determined spirit or heart, one that withstands persuasion or emotional appeal, evidenced in voices of unwavering resolve [3] and persons remaining unmoved by argument [4]. Thus, the word bridges both the material and the metaphorical, invoking not only the hardness of diamond or steel [5, 6] but also an unswerving inner will or temperament evident in both heroic and tragic portrayals across literary texts [7, 8].
- More obdurate than gate of adamant or brass, this gate of Miss Monflathers’s frowned on all mankind.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - It is the old story again of the mountain of adamant.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne - An adamant resolution sounded in my voice as I made slow reply.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - He stayed with her for more than an hour, during which she remained as adamant to all his arguments, entreaties, prayers.
— from Miss Hildreth: A Novel, Volume 3 by Augusta de Grasse Stevens - A shoot of gold which is darker and denser than the rest is called adamant.
— from Timaeus by Plato - (40) The terms I have translated as "Sole Unstainable," "Sole [Foundation]-stone of Adamant" are "Amiantos," "Adamantos."
— from The Gnôsis of the Light by F. Lamplugh - "That is your ultimatum, is it?" demanded her sister, with a face as hard as adamant.
— from His Heart's Queen by Sheldon, Georgie, Mrs. - But it looked at me over the head of Red Whisker, and I was adamant.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens