The House of the Seven Gables
by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The House of the Seven Gables: Style 1 key example

Chapter 9: Clifford and Phoebe
Explanation and Analysis:

The style of the book is wordy and ornate. Hawthorne's story is packed with figurative language, especially complex similes. For example, in Chapter 9, Hawthorne describes Phoebe's effect on the House of the Seven Gables:

[Phoebe's] spirit resembled, in its potency, a minute quantity of attar of rose in one of Hepzibah’s huge, iron-bound trunks, diffusing its fragrance through the various articles of linen and wrought lace, kerchiefs, caps, stockings, folded dresses, gloves, and whatever else was treasured there. As every article in the great trunk was the sweeter for the rose scent, so did all the thoughts and emotions of Hepzibah and Clifford, somber as they might seem, acquire a subtle attribute of happiness from Phoebe’s intermixture with them.