Literary notes about spire (AI summary)
In literature, the term spire frequently conveys both physical elevation and symbolic aspiration. It often designates an architectural pinnacle that reaches toward the heavens—illustrated by descriptions of lofty belfry roofs evolving into towering structures rising several hundred feet [1] and as emblems of divine reach or hope in poetic verse [2, 3]. Authors use the spire to anchor landscapes and evoke a sense of place, whether as a stately cathedral marker adorning a city's skyline [4] or as the immediately recognizable silhouette in a rural vignette [5]. The word also carries metaphorical weight, standing in for human ambition or the pinnacle of artistic achievement, as seen when its prominence is likened to that of the tallest of individuals [6].
- What had been at first merely a lofty belfry roof was rapidly developed into the spire, rising three hundred feet or more into the air.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - The clouds on which it rested seem'd To bear it up like wings of fire; Piercing the heavens, so I dream'd, Sublimely rose its lofty spire.
— from The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 05 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English - Who taught that heaven-directed spire to rise?
— from An Essay on Man; Moral Essays and Satires by Alexander Pope - From his window he could perceive the spire of the cathedral, and the ogee dome under which resounded the great bell of the city.
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - To the west a dark church spire rose up against a marigold sky.
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery - I have met with some tall fellows in my time, though the spire of a church is somewhat taller than the tallest of them.
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley
