Literary notes about Bequest (AI summary)
The word "bequest" in literature is often used to convey a legacy that bridges both the tangible and intangible. It can refer to a physical inheritance—like a lavish endowment of gold and silver objects [1] or legal phrases that bestow blessings upon a recipient [2]—while it also encompasses the symbolic transmission of life’s intangibles, such as hope, wisdom, or even a lasting influence on identity [3]. Across various texts, bequest becomes a multi-layered motif that hints not only at the transfer of material assets but also at the weight and moral authority of what is passed on, be it through a carefully worded promise [4] or a poignant memory that defines a character’s existence [5] and [6].
- This bequest included a gold table twelve feet long, twenty-four gold cups and saucers, a large silk tent, and a hundred fine galleys.
— from With Spurs of Gold: Heroes of Chivalry and their Deeds by Dolly Williams Kirk - The codicil, containing this bequest, concluded with these words, "God bless him, and shame fall on those who do not say amen."
— from The Life of Horatio, Lord Nelson by Robert Southey - Now the wealth did not weigh on me: now it was not a mere bequest of coin,—it was a legacy of life, hope, enjoyment.
— from Jane Eyre: An Autobiography by Charlotte Brontë - "There was just such an informality in the terms of the bequest as to give me no hope from law.
— from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - His only inheritance was the kiss of a dying mother, the dim recollection of her death, and a Bible which he could not read,—her sole bequest.
— from The Unseen Hand; or, James Renfew and His Boy Helpers by Elijah Kellogg - She wishes to be free, and your bequest will make her free.”
— from The Portrait of a Lady — Volume 1 by Henry James
