Literary notes about glimmer (AI summary)
The word "glimmer" is often employed to evoke a sense of fragile, almost elusive illumination, whether describing the faint light that heralds the coming of dawn or the subtle spark of hope in a dark situation. In narratives by Twain and Jules Verne, a glimmer serves to delineate the boundary between darkness and revelation—a weak, yet significant light that guides characters through physical or psychological obscurity ([1], [2]). Meanwhile, in works by Joyce and Hardy the term takes on a metaphorical dimension, hinting at moments of dawning insight or the fragile stirrings of hope amid despair ([3], [4], [5]). This delicate interplay between light and shadow, both literal and symbolic, underscores the perennial literary fascination with the interplay of perception, hope, and the often ephemeral nature of clarity ([6], [7]).
- The very fires of the hereafter could get up nothing more than a fitful glimmer in it.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain - Candidly, I could do no more when I saw a glimmer of light, which, for a half mile, broke the darkness of the waters.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne - Evening would deepen above the sea, night fall upon the plains, dawn glimmer before the wanderer and show him strange fields and hills and faces.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - The marked civility of Clare's tone in calling her seemed to have inspired her, for the moment, with a new glimmer of hope.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - if I see but the faint glimmer of hope, then I draw out my letter!
— from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand - And how glad he was when at last he caught the glimmer of a light!
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain - At length, the day began to glimmer, and the stars to grow pale and dim.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
