Literary notes about column (AI summary)
The term "column" in literature serves multiple functions, ranging from concrete architectural and anatomical references to symbolic and organizational elements. In some texts, it denotes a physical, structural support—as seen in the architectural treatises where Vitruvius outlines the proportions of a column [1, 2, 3]—or even a commemorative monument, as in the case of the porphyry column in Constantinople [4]. Meanwhile, military narratives frequently employ "column" to describe formations or units, highlighting the tactical marching of troops [5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. In printed media, the word also marks divisions of information, such as newspaper columns or table layouts [10, 11, 12, 13]. Additionally, authors extend the metaphor to the human body (referring to the spinal column [14, 15, 16]) and to natural phenomena like columns of dust or mist, enriching the imagery with a sense of scale and movement [17, 18]. This versatility illustrates how "column" bridges the tangible with the abstract in literary expression.
- Let the height of the capital, including its abacus, be equivalent to the thickness of the base of a column.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio - The height of the capital is one half the thickness of a column.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio - In the systyle, let the height be divided into nine and a half parts, and one of these given to the thickness of the column.
— from The Ten Books on Architecture by Vitruvius Pollio - Note 22 ( return ) [ Her statute was raised at Constantinople, on a porphyry column.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Swollen rivers were crossed with great loss of life, and the column, cutting loose from its supplies, was frequently in need of food.
— from A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows - The column moving detached from the army still in the trenches was, excluding the cavalry, very small.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant - Alexander drew out his phalanx into a deep column, and led it on in person.
— from The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian - This force encountered the head of Van Dorn's retreating column just as it was crossing the Hatchie by a bridge some ten miles out from Corinth.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant - In a short time the head of McPherson's column came up, went into camp, and we spent the night in Decatur.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman - It is in the personal column of The Morning Post , and dates, as you see, some weeks back.
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - I read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column.
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Make a list of these, and make a column opposite the list for each boy's replies.
— from Boy Scouts Handbook by Boy Scouts of America - An easy way is as follows: Make a column for the first times and a second column for the second times of the pairs.
— from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney - The very first chords which Mademoiselle Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier's spinal column.
— from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin - It was noticed that his spinal column was crooked, his head seated on his shoulder blades, and that one leg was shorter than the other.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - Next to the dorsal vertebræ comes a short but stronger section of the column, formed of five large vertebræ.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - Only a slender column of dust was still eddying at the edge of the precipice.
— from A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Iurevich Lermontov - The pious woman gazed at the adjacent wood and saw a thick column of smoke rising from it.
— from The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal
