Literary notes about epiphany (AI summary)
In literature, "epiphany" operates on multiple layers, both marking specific religious observances and symbolizing moments of sudden insight and transformation. Authors use the term to denote canonical days—such as the Feast of Epiphany or related celebrations—anchoring scenes in time and ritual, as seen when a narrative begins on the Epiphany day itself ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, the word is employed metaphorically to evoke a revelatory experience, a moment where understanding or change dawns on a character, thereby lending a transcendental quality to the prose ([4], [5]). This dual usage enriches literary texts by blending the tangible celebration of a historical or liturgical event with the intangible spark of personal or prophetic insight.
- Forty-one years ago to day, the day of the Epiphany, the following events occurred: We were then living at
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - It terminates on the 13th of January, the Octave day of the Epiphany.
— from A Righte Merrie Christmasse: The Story of Christ-Tide by John Ashton - As it was the day of Epiphany, Lima received the title of Ciudad de los Reyes (City of the Kings).
— from The travels of Pedro de Cieza de Léon, A.D. 1532-50,contained in the first part of his Chronicle of Peru by Pedro de Cieza de León - The pastoral atmosphere is already shot with a prophetic gleam, the fulfilment is, therefore, no shock or contrast, but a transfiguration—an epiphany.
— from Representative English Comedies, v. 1. From the beginnings to Shakespeare - She had come to him with all the surprise and wonder of a revelation, a coronation, a fulfillment, a golden epiphany.
— from The Heart of Thunder Mountain by Edfrid A. Bingham