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].
- 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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