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Literary notes about open (AI summary)

Writers have long employed the word "open" to convey a range of meanings, both literal and metaphorical. In many narratives, it denotes a physical act—a door being pushed, gates swung wide, or windows left ajar, symbolizing a transition or invitation to experience something new ([1], [2], [3], [4]). In other contexts, "open" stretches beyond its physical presence to evoke landscapes that are unconfined and exposed, like vast meadows or a boundless sea ([5], [6], [7]), underscoring themes of freedom or vulnerability. Moreover, the term is used to illustrate states of readiness or unguarded honesty—a person with open hands or wide-open eyes, for instance, reveals a sense of trust or even confrontation, as seen in open warfare and bold declarations ([8], [9], [10], [11]). Whether fixing attention on the physical act of opening or metaphorically inviting transparency and accessibility, the term enriches the literary landscape with layers of meaning.
  1. Open the door, said she; open it this minute!
    — from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson
  2. I sat on the bench for a quarter of an hour and then pushed open the little door and entered.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  3. She hoped he was not going to stay inside and she pushed the door open wondering if he would.
    — from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  4. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third of which were open.
    — from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  5. They had been driving through the lane with the towering hedge on one side and the open meadow on the other.
    — from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin
  6. Its crescent shaped beach throws out its arms to the shoreless open sea like the very image of an eager striving to embrace the infinite.
    — from My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore
  7. In Denmark and Norway also midsummer fires were kindled on St. John’s Eve on roads, open spaces, and hills.
    — from The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by James George Frazer
  8. She is at least a woman of open hands, and I made a promise to return to her house if need arose.
    — from Kim by Rudyard Kipling
  9. war to the death, war to the knife; guerre a mort[Fr], guerre a outrance[Fr][obs3]; open war, internecine war, civil war.
    — from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget
  10. Why did he stand transfixed with open mouth and distended eyeballs?
    — from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte
  11. There can be no reconciliation where there is no open warfare.
    — from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. Braddon

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