Literary notes about tint (AI summary)
The word "tint" in literature often conveys subtle shifts in color that evoke mood, accentuate details, or symbolize transformation. Authors use it both literally and metaphorically, as when Mark Twain describes nature's dark green tinges ([1]) or Thoreau imbues historical tragedies with an "azure tint" to soften their harsh reality ([2]). It frequently appears in character descriptions too, highlighting differences in skin tone or the fading hues of objects—as seen in Doyle’s depiction of weathered features ([3]) and in Wharton’s portrayal of a deepening beard color ([4]). Moreover, tint serves to animate landscapes and interiors, from the pastel mornings in Brontë’s narratives ([5]) to the resplendent mixtures of color in Verne’s adventures ([6]), drawing the reader’s eye to the interplay of obvious and understated shades.
- The tint was green, slightly varying shades of it, but mainly very dark.
— from What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain - But history must not yet tell the tragedies enacted here; let time intervene in some measure to assuage and lend an azure tint to them.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau - He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair.
— from A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - He rose with a start, his ingenuous face looking as though it had been dipped in crimson: even the reddish tint in his beard seemed to deepen.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - He looked at the box: I saw its clear warm tint and bright azure circlet, pleased his eyes.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - All shade was lost in one uniform tint, of a brown and faded character.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
