Literary notes about abode (AI summary)
The term “abode” in literature carries a weight that extends far beyond its simple definition of a dwelling place. Writers employ it to evoke an intimate sense of residence and to imbue locales with deeper emotional and spiritual resonance. In sacred texts, it designates not just a house but a covenantal space where profound bonds are formed [1, 2, 3, 4]. In folklore and myth, it often becomes a liminal space—a temporary shelter for mortals or the dwelling of otherworldly beings [5, 6, 7, 8]. Meanwhile, in more reflective or symbolic narratives, “abode” can suggest both the literal walls of a home and the abstract state of one’s being, as characters transition from physical incarceration to spiritual liberation [9, 10, 11]. Thus, across different genres, the word encapsulates a rich interplay between the tangible and intangible, marking spaces of both physical residence and metaphorical significance [12, 13, 14].
- And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood: but Jonathan returned to his house.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And she made herself a private chamber in the upper part of her house, in which she abode shut up with her maids.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - So the ark of the Lord went about the city once a day, and returning into the camp, abode there.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - By faith he abode in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in cottages, with Isaac and Jacob, the co-heirs of the same promise.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - A temporary hut was in a few hours erected [ 26 ] on the embankment of the tank, and Phakir’s mother took up her abode in it.
— from Folk-Tales of Bengal by Lal Behari Day - In vain does he attempt to save the twins from their impending fate, by concealing them in a secret abode constructed for that purpose underground.
— from Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore - It is said to live in the jungle on the hills, and wherever it takes up its abode all the trees and plants around wither and die.
— from Malay Magic by Walter William Skeat - It is probably as eligible an abode for exorcised spirits as the Red Sea was once considered to be by our forefathers.”
— from Malay Magic by Walter William Skeat - Hell is a strait and dark and foulsmelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - A timid knock sounded upon the door of his abode.
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - Accordingly, he cut it softly from the lady's toe and making it fast to his own, abode on the watch to see what this might mean.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio - His interest was touched, and soon after he took up his abode among those “primitive Christians of the Alps.”
— from The Waterloo Roll Call by Charles Dalton - Young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet, Whither away, or where is thy abode?
— from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare - Seven days hence, Takshaka, the lord of snakes, shall take the sinful king to the horrible abode of Death.’
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1
