Literary notes about five (AI summary)
In many of these texts, “five” appears as a marker of time, age, or quantity and can signify both brevity and substantial spans. For example, figures travel for “five days” [1], reflect on “five months” [2], and endure “five years” [3]. It can appear in measuring both money (receiving “five on the next one” [4]) and distance (“He marched on … five desert stages” [5]). At times, “five” also denotes a small set of people, whether “five or six” gathered [6] or a core group of “five voyagers” [7]. In this way, the word “five” threads through diverse contexts, underscoring the versatility and significance of this simple numeral in literature.
- My brother ," viz. Joseph.—He and Junot reached Paris in five days, and had a great ovation.
— from Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 by Emperor of the French Napoleon I - I have now been here nearly five months; and, moreover, the quietest five months I ever passed.”
— from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - Why, it hasn't been opened for nearly five years—not since his lordship died.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - “That,” said the captain, looking at the coin, “pays for two beds for two men and gives me five on the next one.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - H2 anchor V Thence he marched on through Arabia, keeping the Euphrates on the right, five desert stages—thirty-five parasangs.
— from Anabasis by Xenophon - There were only five or six of them; you could set them all down on a visiting-card.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain - The five voyagers had hoisted themselves into the net, and clung to the meshes, gazing at the abyss.
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
