Literary notes about mist (AI summary)
Writers employ "mist" to evoke atmospheres of mystery, transition, and ambiguity. It often cloaks landscapes or figures, creating blurred boundaries between reality and the unseen, as when a lone figure vanishes behind a drifting cloud [1] or when the terrain is shrouded, transforming familiar scenes into realms of uncertainty [2]. Sometimes, mist assumes a symbolic role—embodying divine presence or the ephemeral nature of life [3], [4]—while at other times it serves as a natural veil that both hides and reveals, setting a tone of eerie suspension or wistful melancholy [5], [6]. Across these varied contexts, the mist emerges as a versatile literary device, seamlessly blending the physical with the metaphoric.
- Then I saw them no more in their place, but a mist or cloud came between and hid them from my sight.
— from The Argonautica by Rhodius Apollonius - But all I saw was the deep blue sky above, with one solitary star, and the white mist spreading wide and low beneath.
— from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells - And this mist is surely the goddess herself, and in another place also in the poem he says,) ἠέρα δ᾽
— from The Works of the Emperor Julian, Vol. 1 by Emperor of Rome Julian - To aid her, swift the winged Iris flew, Wrapt in a mist above the warring crew.
— from The Iliad by Homer - There’s a little flower up yonder, the last bud from the multitude of bluebells that clouded those turf steps in July with a lilac mist.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - Thus we learned their name, and we stood watching them go, till their white tunic was lost in the blue mist.
— from Anthem by Ayn Rand
