In literature topaz is invoked as a luminous and shifting hue that conveys warmth, brilliance, and an almost otherworldly quality. Writers employ topaz to describe eyes glowing with an inner fire—as in characters with “topaz eyes” that seem to capture light from within ([1], [2], [3], [4])—while also comparing natural phenomena to the gem’s radiant qualities. For instance, the moon is likened to “a big yellow topaz pinned to a cushion of blue-black velvet” ([5]), and an evening sky may be rendered with “topaz green” hues ([6]), suggesting a dynamic interplay between color and mood. At times, topaz is depicted in more subtle, almost liquid terms, as when a character admires the “liquid topaz of the sherry” ([7]) or marvels at glowing “topaz lights” that imbue a scene with soft radiance ([8], [9]). Such descriptions highlight the color’s dual capacity to evoke both tangible beauty and metaphorical depth, serving as a bridge between the real and the enchanted ([10], [11], [12], [13]).
- They were not exactly hazel either,—they reminded one of a topaz.
— from Fairy Fingers
A Novel by Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie
- Then, early one spring, came Knave—a showy, magnificent collie; red-gold of coat save for a black "saddle," and with alert topaz eyes.
— from Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune
- He has long dark blue fur, with a ruff of a lighter shade and brilliant topaz eyes.
— from Concerning Cats: My Own and Some Others by Helen M. (Helen Maria) Winslow
- On the way the gold-and-topaz eyes opened, but she did not protest or move until Stanief set her down.
— from The Game and the Candle by Eleanor M. (Eleanor Marie) Ingram
- The moon was like a big yellow topaz pinned to a cushion of blue-black velvet, and around it lay the stars like scattered diamonds.
— from Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos by Stanley R. Matthews
- The storm-portending evening glow tinges the fleecy clouds flame color, causing the rest of the sky to appear topaz green.
— from The Green Book; Or, Freedom Under the Snow: A Novel by Mór Jókai
- She held up the liquid topaz of the sherry to the light and closed her eyes as she drank it, declaring that it tickled her throat.
— from A Wedding Trip by Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de
- It was a morning of moist winds and rich November sunlight, of pattering leaves and topaz lights, full of sea-gulls' wings and the cawing of rooks.
— from Carnival by Compton MacKenzie
- The quaint heptahedral lamps threw splashed shimmers of topaz colour across the laky pavement.
— from Pipefuls by Christopher Morley
- Topaz-coloured, aren't they?
— from The Dop Doctor by Richard Dehan
- Topaz yellow in color.
— from A Field Book of the Stars by William Tyler Olcott
- He seemed like topaz, so strangely brownish and pellucid.
— from Women in Love by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
- Her hair was brown, going to tawny, but in this soft light which enwrapped her she was in a sort of topaz flame.
— from Northern Lights by Gilbert Parker