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Literary notes about Dissect (AI summary)

The term "dissect" in literature conveys both a literal and metaphorical sense of detailed examination and deconstruction. In some texts, it refers to a physical process—the careful cutting and analysis of anatomical parts or bodies, as seen in descriptions of surgical procedures and bodily dissection [1, 2, 3]. In other instances, authors employ it figuratively to mean breaking down complex ideas, emotions, or texts into their essential components, inviting a kind of intellectual anatomy that reveals hidden structures beneath the surface [4, 5, 6]. This dual use not only underscores the precision of the analysis involved but also emphasizes the transformation of something whole into its constituent parts, whether it be a heart, a character's inner life, or a work of art [7, 8, 9].
  1. 23. Dissect out a long bone from one upper and one lower limb and one of the largest ribs.
    — from The Elements of Bacteriological TechniqueA Laboratory Guide for Medical, Dental, and Technical Students. Second Edition Rewritten and Enlarged. by J. W. H. (John William Henry) Eyre
  2. to dissect away the base of a pterygium the rest of which had been separated off by means of sawing with a horsehair.
    — from Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times by John Stewart Milne
  3. Having perforated the angle of this portion with a hook we dissect away the whole skin.
    — from Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times by John Stewart Milne
  4. Neither patriarch nor pussy, I dissect the play; Seems it, to my hooded thinking,
    — from Poems by Emily Dickinson, Three Series, Complete by Emily Dickinson
  5. Where a poet might conceive a new composite, making it live, a moralist must dissect the experience and rest in its eternal elements.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  6. To dissect a sentence in this way is to analyze it.
    — from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge
  7. a dagger would dissect His own full heart,' 'twere good to see its colour!
    — from The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Vol 1 and 2 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  8. Supposing we could dissect Mrs. Peters, Alicia, Mizzi, Beatrice Blair, and a thousand Ermyntrudes or Sallies, should we find the same germ of woman?
    — from The Gay Adventure: A Romance by Richard Bird
  9. I would not mind being acutely unhappy, if I could dissect my own emotions, and have them photographed and sent round to my friends."
    — from Dodo: A Detail of the Day. Volumes 1 and 2 by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson

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