Literary notes about leviathan (AI summary)
The term "leviathan" frequently emerges in literature as a symbol of both overwhelming natural force and colossal authority. In narratives like Herman Melville's, it embodies the enigmatic and fearsome aspects of the sea, its vastness and mystery provoking both awe and terror [1][2][3]. Beyond the realm of nature, philosophical and political treatises adopt the term to illustrate an all-encompassing state or power—seen in texts where it becomes synonymous with the might of a commonwealth or government [4][5][6]. Its biblical and allegorical roots further augment its meaning, casting the leviathan as an emblem of chaos, divine judgment, and the profound mysteries of existence [7][8][9].
- What am I that I should essay to hook the nose of this leviathan!
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville - It is plain, then, that phrenologically the head of this Leviathan, in the creature’s living intact state, is an entire delusion.
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville - “In vain it was to rake for Ambergriese in the paunch of this Leviathan, insufferable fetor denying not inquiry.”
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville - — Opening sentence of Hobbes’s Leviathan .
— from Moby Dick; Or, The Whale by Herman Melville - The one book for which he is famous is called Leviathan, or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth (1651).
— from English Literature by William J. Long - Can you explain why Hobbes should call his work Leviathan ?
— from English Literature by William J. Long - Nor do the descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan comport with the dragon-form.
— from Demonology and Devil-lore by Moncure Daniel Conway - Job Chapter 40 Of the power of God in the behemoth and the leviathan.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Job Chapter 41 A further description of the leviathan.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
