Literary notes about echo (AI summary)
The word “echo” in literature is multifaceted, functioning both as a literal auditory phenomenon and as a powerful metaphor for memory, emotion, and reflection. Authors often invoke an echo to signal the reverberation of sound in vast, empty spaces or to illustrate the lingering impact of past events and feelings. For instance, a cave’s reverberation may suggest both physical emptiness and the symbolic return of long-forgotten thoughts ([1], [2]), while a character’s inner distress can be underscored by a voice that echoes their sorrow or regret ([3], [4]). At the same time, the term can bridge the gap between the natural world and human experience, carrying historical and mythological connotations that enrich a narrative’s depth ([5], [6]). This layered usage transforms “echo” from a simple repetition of sound into a resonant emblem of both external and internal worlds.
- We only knew that it was a cave by the echo of our tread and the perfect quiet of the heavy air.
— from She by H. Rider Haggard - Thus heav’d, the fix’d foundations of the rock Gave way; heav’n echo’d at the rattling shock.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil - When he comes to himself he weeps, laments, and groans, he tears his hair, and his shrieks re-echo through the air.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - His laugh had not quite left him either, but it was like the echo of a joyful sound, and that is always sorrowful.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - Had she not gone to hear the echo of learning pulsing back to the source of the mystery?—The source of mystery!
— from The Rainbow by D. H. Lawrence - [102] An echo of this is to be found in the Oedipus Rex of Sophocles.
— from Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud
