Literary notes about fair (AI summary)
In literature, the word "fair" takes on a richly varied character, serving as a marker for both physical beauty and harmonious order. It is often employed to evoke vivid visual imagery, from describing a pleasant day or a charming maiden (as in [1] and [2]) to portraying exquisite architecture or landscapes filled with light and balanced design (see [3] and [4]). At times the term extends into the realm of language itself, characterizing speech that is both pleasing and deceptively sincere ([5], [6]). In other instances, "fair" underscores the ideal of balance or propriety in both nature and human affairs, hinting at an underlying sense of justice or virtue ([7], [8]). This versatility allows authors to layer their narratives with a word that is as much about sensory allure as it is about ethical clarity.
- The day was fair, the wind favourable; all smiled on our nuptial embarkation.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - And the little girl was just such another as her mother: thin, fair, and slender.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - And he hath within many fair gardens, and many fair halls and chambers; and the pavement of his halls and chambers be of gold and silver.
— from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville - At last they issued from the world of wood, And climbed upon a fair and even ridge, And showed themselves against the sky, and sank.
— from Idylls of the King by Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson - If he have need of thee he will deceive thee, and smiling upon thee will put thee in hope; he will speak thee fair, and will say: What wantest thou?
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Vouchsafe me, for my meed, but one fair look; A smaller boon than this I cannot beg, And less than this, I am sure, you cannot give.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Why does a strange discordance break The ordered scheme's fair harmony?
— from The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius - Being here, I'll wait if you make haste, and then I can testify on his behalf, if it should ever be necessary, that all was fair and right.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens