Literary notes about FORGE (AI summary)
The word “forge” in literature often carries a dual significance. On one level it vividly depicts the physical setting of metalwork—a smithy where fire and bellows shape raw iron into objects of utility and art, as seen when characters visit a working forge to repair or create tools [1, 2, 3, 4]. On another level it symbolizes a process of transformation and creation, suggesting the forging of character, ideas, or even destinies; authors use this metaphor to evoke the intense effort and heat required to mold something valuable from a raw state [5, 6, 7]. Moreover, historical allusions, such as references to harsh winters at Valley Forge, imbue the term with connotations of endurance and change [8, 9].
- There was a door in the kitchen, communicating with the forge; I unlocked and unbolted that door, and got a file from among Joe's tools.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - The Blacksmith , 1. in his Smithy (or Forge), 2. bloweth the fire with a pair of Bellows , 3. which he bloweth with his Feet , 4.
— from The Orbis Pictus by Johann Amos Comenius - Uncle Abe waded out to the blacksmith’s forge early in the morning and spent the whole day there.
— from Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery - Joe had got his coat and waistcoat and cravat off, and his leather apron on, and passed into the forge.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace sealed, The human heart its hungry gorge.
— from Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake - I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - Our deeds are fetters that we forge ourselves.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - Seventh day, December 20th.—General Washington's army have gone into winter-quarters at the Valley Forge.
— from American Historical and Literary Curiosities: Second Series, Complete by J. Jay Smith - I wrote to P. F. by uncle Miles, who waited on Gen'l Washington next morn.—[General Washington and army at Valley Forge.—Ed.]
— from American Historical and Literary Curiosities: Second Series, Complete by J. Jay Smith
