Definitions Related words Mentions Lyrics History Colors (New!)

Literary notes about microcosm (AI summary)

In literature, the word "microcosm" is frequently employed as a versatile metaphor to represent a smaller, self-contained system that reflects larger, more complex wholes. For instance, Mary Wollstonecraft depicts individuals and families as embodiments of a broader state structure [1], while Yogananda uses the term to describe a limited, self-imprisoned realm in contrast to the vastness of the universe [2]. Rabelais, in his varied narrative styles, applies "microcosm" both to the intricate play of sounds during a carnival [3] and to the dynamics of social interaction where lending and borrowing mirror a complete model of society [4], underscoring its expansive reach. In a different vein, Twain characterizes a city like Washington as a concentrated showcase of diverse social forms within a mile's radius [5]. Beyond societal reflections, the concept stretches into the domains of both the bodily and the metaphysical, with examples illustrating the body's operations as microcosmic representations of a universal order [6, 7] and highlighting the idea that every individual inherently mirrors the entirety of the world [8, 9]. Additional literary instances extend the metaphor into economic puzzles [10] and personal dramas [11], further cementing "microcosm" as a powerful and multifaceted symbol across genres and eras [12, 13, 14].
  1. A man has been termed a microcosm; and every family might also be called a state.
    — from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
  2. Like a prodigal child, I had run away from my macrocosmic home and imprisoned myself in a narrow microcosm.
    — from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
  3. Never did the bachelors at Avignon in carnival time play more melodiously at raphe than was then played on the catchpole’s microcosm.
    — from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
  4. Now let our microcosm be fancied conform to this model in all its members; lending, borrowing, and owing, that is to say, according to its own nature.
    — from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
  5. Washington is a microcosm, and one can suit himself with any sort of society within a radius of a mile.
    — from The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
  6. Life consisteth in blood, blood is the seat of the soul; therefore the chiefest work of the microcosm is, to be making blood continually.
    — from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
  7. The microcosm of the human body is the lesser image of the macrocosm.
    — from Timaeus by Plato
  8. The favorite notion of the time was that man was in microcosm that which the universe was in macrocosm.
    — from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey
  9. Every one is thus himself in a double aspect the whole world, the microcosm; finds both sides whole and complete in himself.
    — from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer
  10. Here, in microcosm, is the sort of economic snarl that arose continually for me and my pupils to solve.
    — from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois
  11. I have seen the human drama from a veiled corner, where all the outer tragedy and comedy have reproduced themselves in microcosm within.
    — from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois
  12. I'd like, myself, such a one to see: Sir Microcosm his name should be.
    — from Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  13. Indeed, here, in microcosm and with differences emphasizing sex equality, is the industrial history of labor in the 19th and 20th centuries.
    — from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois
  14. A microcosm I Reflecting all.
    — from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis

More usage examples

Also see: Google, News, Images, Wikipedia, Reddit, BlueSky


Home   Reverse Dictionary / Thesaurus   Datamuse   Word games   Spruce   Feedback   Dark mode   Random word   Help


Color thesaurus

Use OneLook to find colors for words and words for colors

See an example

Literary notes

Use OneLook to learn how words are used by great writers

See an example

Word games

Try our innovative vocabulary games

Play Now

Read the latest OneLook newsletter issue: Threepeat Redux