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Literary notes about solemnity (AI summary)

In literature, the word “solemnity” is employed to evoke a sense of gravitas and formality in both religious and secular contexts. It appears in descriptions of sacred rituals and ceremonies where reverence and precise observance are paramount, as in the declarations of holy feasts and invocations ([1], [2], [3], [4]). At the same time, authors use it to characterize characters’ demeanors or moments of introspection, where measured composure contrasts with lighter or more episodic actions ([5], [6], [7]). In this way, “solemnity” functions as a literary device that underscores the seriousness or ceremonial nature of an occasion, lending both narrative weight and emotional depth to the scenes in which it appears ([8], [9], [10]).
  1. And much people were assembled to Jerusalem to celebrate the solemnity of the unleavened bread in the second month: 30:14.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  2. Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your solemnity.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  3. In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the solemnity of the pasch: seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  4. And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and made proclamation by a crier's voice, saying To morrow is the solemnity of the Lord.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  5. "You keep a diary of these events, and you expect eventually to publish it, Mr. Malone," said he, with solemnity.
    — from The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
  6. There was no voice of rebuke; but there were averted eyes; there was a silence and an air of solemnity that struck a chill to the culprit’s heart.
    — from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain
  7. ‘Well, sir,’ said Mr. Pickwick, with the profound solemnity with which that great man could, when he pleased, render his remarks so deeply impressive.
    — from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
  8. The service was read with great solemnity; nothing was left out and two canticles were sung --to sweetest Jesus and the most Holy Mother of God.
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  9. It distinguishes true from false in Ceremonial Form, earnest solemnity from empty pageant, in all human things.
    — from On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle
  10. She was dressed in mourning, and her countenance, always engaging, was rendered, by the solemnity of her feelings, exquisitely beautiful.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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