Literary notes about viol (AI summary)
The term "viol" in literature has been used to evoke both the tangible beauty of its sound and a broader symbolic richness, often reflecting refinement, authority, and deep emotion. In Wilde’s work, for example, the viol is not merely an instrument but also a figure of critique and aesthetic sensitivity ([1]), while Baudelaire’s verse imbues its vibrations with an otherworldly, almost mournful quality that animates the very essence of despair and beauty ([2]). Writers like Mickiewicz and Rousseau highlight the instrument’s physical impact—its resonant tone and the tactile demands it places on the musician ([3], [4])—and Hardy uses the bass-viol to underscore moments of dramatic significance and social hierarchy ([5], [6]). Even in more formal or declarative texts, as seen with Jefferson’s references, the word tends to carry connotations of tradition and measured authority ([7], [8]), and Wilde again returns to the viol to symbolize a sweetness that can animate inaccessible beauty ([9]). Across these varied uses, the viol emerges as a multifaceted emblem of art, emotion, and societal stature.
- The singer or the player on lute and viol is the critic of music.
— from Intentions by Oscar Wilde - The flowers evaporate like an incense urn, The viol vibrates like the wailing of souls that repine.
— from The Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire - I will order bagpipes, a bass viol, and two fiddles; and Pan Maciek, my friend, likes old July mead and a new mazurka.
— from Pan Tadeusz; or, The last foray in Lithuania by Adam Mickiewicz - The harsh and painful touch of the ’cello, bass-viol, and even of the violin, hardens the finger-tips, although it gives flexibility to the fingers.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The immortal tune ended, a fine DD rolling forth from the bass-viol with the sonorousness of a cannonade, and Gabriel delayed his entry no longer.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy - The bass-viol player and the clerk usually spoke with more authority than the rest on account of their official connection with the preacher.
— from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy - + Fl.; Act IV 31 —Viol.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - cp. OF. vïele , a viol.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - [15] They seemed to be able to give a plastic form to formless things, and to have a music of their own as sweet as that of viol or of lute.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
