Literary notes about tin (AI summary)
In literature the adjective “tin” is not merely a reference to a metal but a subtle cue to a muted, metallic hue that evokes cool, hard resilience or sometimes a gentle melancholy. Authors frequently use tin-colored objects—a tin roof in a weathered house, for example, as in [1], [2], and [3]—to paint a scene of industrial austerity or the faded beauty of a bygone era. Even characters and figures, such as the Tin Soldier in [4] or the “little tin statue” in [5], are imbued with an otherworldly quality through their association with the gleam of tin, suggesting both steadfastness and fragility. In one striking instance, the color symbolism deepens in [6] where tin’s understated luster is linked to the soft splendor of Venus, reflecting how a seemingly plain hue can carry layers of emotional and aesthetic meaning.
- Suddenly, from a small tin-roofed house that nestled under the tall lighthouse, a man came running at top speed.
— from The Boy Inventors' Diving Torpedo Boat by Richard Bonner - If tin can be got in Nashville have a tin roof put on it.
— from The Hermitage, Home of Old Hickory by Stanley F. Horn - And ever the rain beat down, rattling, incessant, upon the tin roof above her head.
— from The Lamp in the Desert by Ethel M. (Ethel May) Dell - "I'm not wobbly," the Tin Soldier assured him, 236 "but I'm certain that one of my legs is shorter than the other.
— from The Tin Woodman of OzA Faithful Story of the Astonishing Adventure Undertakenby the Tin Woodman, assisted by Woot the Wanderer, theScarecrow of Oz, and Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum - With this command, Captain Jinks faced about to the road, and stiffened all over till he looked like a little tin statue.
— from The Wonderful Bed by Gertrude Knevels - The second, of tin, was that of Venus, symbolizing her soft splendor and easy flexibility.
— from Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Albert Pike
