Literary notes about pine (AI summary)
In literature, "pine" serves dual roles, evoking both the physical presence of nature and symbols of emotional longing. It appears frequently as a detailed depiction of natural landscapes—towering pine trees setting a dramatic, almost otherworldly backdrop [1], [2], [3]—while also being employed metaphorically to express yearning, decline, or melancholy, as when characters are said to "pine away" in their sorrow or isolation [4], [5], [6]. In addition, authors utilize pine in practical contexts, from describing construction materials [7], [8] to marking symbolic emblems of family or place [9], underscoring the versatility of the term. This layered use of "pine" enriches the narrative by blending tangible natural imagery with abstract human emotions.
- He could detect no parishioners except the pine-trees, rising up steeply on all sides, and gesturing to each other against the blue.
— from A Room with a View by E. M. Forster - our hunters inform that the countrey back is broken, Stoney and thinly timbered with pine and White Oake.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - the mountains continue high on either side of the valley, and are but skantily supplyed with timber; small pine appears to be the prevalent growth.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - So that when bread and water fail, every man may fall against his brother, and they may pine away in their iniquities.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - She would pine away in green and yellow melancholy if she had not my six feet of iniquity to scold.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - As for Daae, he began to pine away with homesickness.
— from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux - These bags we filled with the pine straw—or, as it is sometimes called, pine needles—which we secured from the forests near by.
— from Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington - Then he scraped away the dirt, and exposed a pine shingle.
— from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain - Their common emblem was the pine, which is now confined to the Macgregors" (Taylor).
— from The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott
