Literary notes about inscribe (AI summary)
The word "inscribe" has been employed in literature with a rich diversity of meanings that span concrete and abstract domains. In poetic contexts, as in Pushkin’s line [1], "inscribe" suggests engraving a song onto the heart or memory, evoking a sense of artistic permanence. Conversely, its application in academic and scientific discourses—illustrated repeatedly by Jefferson’s geometric constructions of circles with various polygons ([2], [3], [4], [5], [6])—emphasizes precision and methodical recording. Authors also leverage the term metaphorically; Dumas’s remark about names on ledgers [7] and Nero’s discussion of inscribing laws on a blank slate in Plato [8] both invoke the idea of marking significance for posterity. Furthermore, its use to denote personal legacy, as seen in the inscription of life mottos ([9]) and the act of recording identities or dedicatory texts ([10], [11], [12], [13]), underscores “inscribe” as a versatile term that bridges the tangible act of marking with the more contemplative act of memorializing.
- Of maids dost thou inscribe thy song?
— from Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin - To inscribe in a circle polygons of 3, 6, 12, 24, sides.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - To inscribe or circumscribe a circle to a given triangle.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - To inscribe in a circle polygons of 4, 8, 16, 32, sides.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - To inscribe in a circle polygons of 15, 30, 60, sides.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - To inscribe in a circle polygons of 5, 10, 20, 40, sides.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - It is a fine name to inscribe on my ledgers, and my cashier was quite proud of it when I explained to him who the Cavalcanti were.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - He will begin with a ‘tabula rasa’ and there inscribe his laws.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - —Both Rousseau and Schopenhauer were proud enough to inscribe upon their lives the motto, Vitam impendere vero .
— from The Dawn of Day by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Inscribe rather thereon these words: "Death is the commencement of immortality!"
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - Now, therefore, having dedicated the First volume of the Spectator to Somers, it is to Halifax that Steele and he inscribe the Second.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Now, therefore, having dedicated the First volume of the Spectator to Somers, it is to Halifax that Steele and he inscribe the Second.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele - [73] And [Pg lxxi] to deprive a citizen of his rights it was enough to inscribe his name in the list of magnates.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri