Literary notes about fire (AI summary)
Authors use the term fire in multifaceted ways that evoke both physical sensations and abstract ideas. In some works, fire creates cozy, intimate atmospheres where characters find warmth, comfort, or a moment of reflection—sometimes depicted around a hearth or in quiet solitude [1, 2]. In contrast, fire frequently appears as an uncontrollable force, a symbol of wider destruction or divine punishment that consumes entire strongholds or represents the fervor of passion and conflict [3, 4, 5]. This dual capacity of fire—as both nurturing and devastating—reveals its deep symbolic power in literature, where it illuminates the inner struggles of characters and the larger, often tumultuous, contours of historical or mythic events [6, 7, 8].
- I too sat down before the fire and gazed at the coals, and nothing was said for a long time.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - ‘Wot about?’ inquired Sam, drawing his chair up to the fire.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - Thus one house after the other was set on fire, until the castle itself was in flames.
— from Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson - One glow had long been visible and everybody knew that it was Little Mytíshchi burning—set on fire by Mamónov’s Cossacks.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - And now the Romans set fire to the extreme parts of the city, and burnt them down, and entirely demolished its walls.
— from The Wars of the Jews; Or, The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem by Flavius Josephus - All darkness is hid in his secret places: a fire that is not kindled shall devour him, he shall be afflicted when left in his tabernacle.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And, raising in his gentle hold Alive unharmed the Maithil dame, The Lord of Fire embodied came.
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete