Literary notes about pitch (AI summary)
The term "pitch" appears throughout literature with remarkably diverse meanings. In some works it refers to a sticky, tar-like substance used in construction and preservation, evoking images of antiquity and industry ([1], [2], [3]). In others, "pitch" describes profound darkness or an extreme quality—nights are rendered as "pitch dark" to evoke a palpable atmosphere of mystery or fear ([4], [5], [6], [7]), while in more abstract contexts it marks the apex of emotion or action, such as reaching a "pitch of impudence" or the "highest pitch" of excitement ([8], [9], [10]). The versatility of this word further extends into everyday actions like setting up camp, where characters "pitch their tents" ([11], [12], [13]), and even into the realm of speech, where varying vocal pitch becomes an essential element of dramatic expression ([14], [15], [16]).
- The more southern States furnish in greater abundance certain kinds of naval stores—tar, pitch, and turpentine.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - Originally, that upon tar was £4 the ton; that upon pitch the same; and that upon turpentine £3 the ton.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - Under this denomination were comprehended timber fit for masts, yards, and bowsprits; hemp, tar, pitch, and turpentine.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - When they awoke at last it was pitch dark.
— from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang - It was a pitch-dark night without a moon.
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - “It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled about looking for matches and muttering under his breath.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - It was black as pitch, for the windows were heavily shuttered.
— from The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan - As a rule it is after dinner, at the approach of evening, that my nervous excitement reaches its highest pitch.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - During this pause the soul of Melvil was wound up to the highest pitch of enthusiastic sorrow.
— from The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom — Complete by T. Smollett - He was consumed with curiosity, which the sudden change in the manner of the man before him had excited to the highest pitch.
— from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac - 51; Conolly , I. 96) But throughout the Altai, Mr. Ney Elias informs me, K'alkas, Kirghiz, and Kalmaks all pitch their tents facing east .
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - In this hopeful sanctuary, and under the clutches of this harpy, did we pitch our residence.
— from Memoirs of Fanny Hill by John Cleland - He shall be a wild man: his hand will be against all men, and all men's hands against him: and he shall pitch his tents over against all his brethren.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - "Parson," said I, "you pitch the pipe too low:
— from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson - Speak the following lines with as marked variations in pitch as your interpretation of the sense may dictate.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - I don't like you,” she went on in a high, excited pitch, attempting to draw away her hand.
— from The Awakening, and Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin
