Literary notes about gray (AI summary)
The word gray in literature is used both as a literal descriptor and as a symbol rich with emotion. It appears in descriptions of physical aging or decay, such as when a character’s hair turns gray to denote the passage of time and wisdom [1, 2, 3]. Gray also colors the environment, evoking atmospheres of melancholy or uncertainty—a gloomy twilight over rocks or a barren, misty landscape that mirrors the inner desolation of its inhabitants [4, 5, 6]. Moreover, names and attire marked by gray can signify everything from authority to subdued vibrancy, lending an additional layer of meaning to character portrayal and setting [7, 8, 9]. This multifaceted usage enriches the narrative, offering readers a subtle interplay between the tangible and the symbolic.
- An old, gray-haired sergeant of the guard stepped out of the ranks, and addressing the provost,— “Mad in sooth, monseigneur.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - The broad chest heaved, the muscles of the face gave way, and the gray-haired man burst into loud sobs.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - Why was what hair he had left already gray?
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - A crowd of gloomy fantasies will come and haunt me if I tarry longer here in the darkening twilight of these gray rocks.
— from Twice-told tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne - The rain had almost ceased, the world was gray and sad, the exhausted storm was sighing and sobbing itself to rest.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - The next day the rain poured down in torrents again, and when Mary looked out of her window the moor was almost hidden by gray mist and cloud.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - That Frenchman, by his uniform an officer, was going at a gallop, crouching on his gray horse and urging it on with his saber.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - " Dorian Gray laughed, and tossed his head.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - Mr. Gray took advantage of the digression to state his business.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte
