Literary notes about span (AI summary)
The term "span" is employed with remarkable versatility in literature, functioning both as a measure of physical distance and a metaphor for time, life, or connection. In certain works, it denotes a tangible length, as when a lead effigy is shaped to be about a human hand’s span [1] or when the physical measurement of architecture is described by a single span of an arch [2]. In more abstract uses, authors refer to the span of human life to encapsulate its brevity or significance, as seen in lines that lament the limited span of existence [3] and explore its ephemeral nature [4]. Additionally, the word enriches idiomatic expressions that evoke pristine order, as in the phrase "spick and span" to describe something immaculate [5]. This dual capacity—as a marker of both spatial dimension and temporal or metaphorical interval—demonstrates just how adaptable and evocative "span" has been as a literary tool.
- 25 The following variant of the above rite has been described 26 :— “A block of lead is moulded into the effigy of a man about a span in length.
— from Omens and Superstitions of Southern India by Edgar Thurston - The bridges are of a single span—a single arch—of cut stone, without a support, and paved on top with flags of lava and ornamental pebblework.
— from The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain - "Life has a limited span and naught may avail to extend it.
— from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis - The enemy was now within two hundred and fifty miles of Rome; and every moment diminished the narrow span of life and empire allotted to Julian.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - "I wouldn't want to make it look like a gardener's garden, all clipped an' spick an' span, would you?"
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
