Literary notes about post (AI summary)
Writers have long exploited the polysemy of "post" to add layers of meaning to their narratives. Sometimes it denotes the communication system itself—letters and parcels carried through the postal service ([1], [2], [3])—while in other instances it signals an assigned duty or official station, as in roles held by diplomats or soldiers ([4], [5], [6]). Equally, "post" appears in physical contexts: as a structural element like a lamp‐post that marks a scene or a literal support ([7], [8], [9]). Beyond these concrete meanings, the term also serves as a temporal or philosophical prefix, shaping eras or ideas, such as in discussions of post-Kantian thought ([10]). Even within a single narrative, "post" can traverse diverse meanings, underscoring its enduring versatility in literature ([11], [12]).
- Mrs. Allan left the letter for me at the post office.
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery - It was only on the third morning that he received a line by post from the Countess Olenska.
— from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - On a Monday morning, when Herbert and I were at breakfast, I received the following letter from Wemmick by the post.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - From 1494 to 1512 held an official post at Florence which included diplomatic missions to various European courts.
— from The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli - A month or so later my medical friend was appointed to another post.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Indeed, it would be difficult to say—so thoroughly did he perform his duties in this respect—whether the post most fitted him, or he the post.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol - I will be hanged to a lamp-post on Main Street."
— from Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life by Sherwood Anderson - He stopped under a lamp-post and looked round with surprise.
— from The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Sometimes a garland of old shoes is hung up on the door-post of the chamber.
— from Omens and Superstitions of Southern India by Edgar Thurston - The whole lesson of Kantian and post-Kantian speculation is, it seems to me, the lesson of simplicity.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - An ex post facto law was brought in with great precipitation, for annulling this dividend.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke - Write from us to him, post-post-haste dispatch.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
