"Let us compare the following events: 1. A tsar gives an eagle to a hero. The eagle carries the hero away to another kingdom. 2. An old man gives Súcenko a horse. The horse carries Súcenko away to another kingdom. 3. A sorcerer gives Iván a little boat. The boat takes Iván to another kingdom. 4. A princess gives Iván a ring. Young men appearing from out of the ring carry Iván away into another kingdom, and so forth. Both constants and variables are present in the preceding instances. The names of the dramatis personae change (as well as the attributes of each), but neither their actions nor functions change."
– Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp

"When the banks where the water breaks on sonorous bridges
Are covered once again with the murmuring reeds...
When the Seine flows on over obstacles of stone,
Eroding some old dome which has tumbled into its stream"
– "Before the Arc de Triomphe" by Victor Hugo