Literary notes about Fraternal (AI summary)
The term "fraternal" has been used in literature in a variety of ways that emphasize both literal and metaphorical bonds of brotherhood. In some texts, it denotes a deep, affectionate bond among individuals, as seen in Burns’s invitation to lay heads together in fraternal love [1] or in the depiction of a friendly, almost familial embrace in Dickens’s work [2]. Other authors, such as in the Confucian classics [3, 4, 5], use "fraternal" to underscore a moral or social duty of loyalty and respect among peers. Political narratives also harness the term for its evocative power, as Carlyle demonstrates when describing revolutionary communal spirit and solidarity [6, 7, 8]. Meanwhile, more modern explorations of ideology and group dynamics, like those in sociological examinations and critiques of organized systems [9, 10, 11], employ "fraternal" to detail alliances and internal cohesion within groups. Even when used in passing, as in ironic or understated moments in literature [12, 13], the word continues to invoke a layered sense of warmth, loyalty, and mutual responsibility.
- We've been owre lang unkenn'd to ither: Now let us lay our heads thegither, In love fraternal: May envy wallop in a tether, Black fiend, infernal!
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - Opening the door with all speed, he beheld the expressive countenance of Mr Chuckster, between whom and himself a fraternal greeting ensued.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - The philosopher Yu said, 'They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors.
— from The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics) by Confucius - And he was told, 'He whom the circle of his relatives pronounce to be filial, whom his fellow-villagers and neighbours pronounce to be fraternal.' 3.
— from The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics) by Confucius - Filial piety and fraternal submission!— are they not the root of all benevolent actions?' CHAP.
— from The Analects of Confucius (from the Chinese Classics) by Confucius - Paris has swept herself, relighted herself; Salons, Soupers not Fraternal, beam once more with suitable effulgence, very singular in colour.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Rumour enough hereupon; heaven-high congratulation of Collot, fraternal embracing, at the Jacobins, and elsewhere.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Whom the Paris brethren march forth to receive; with military solemnities, with fraternal embracing, and a hospitality worthy of the heroic ages.
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Trade-unions, fraternal and benefit societies, social clubs, fellow-workmen.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - A denomination engages in fraternal rivalry with other denominations for the advancement of common interests of the church universal.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - This Central Committee was for the fraternal associations what the Constituent Assembly was for the French Republic in 1848.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - “Quite fraternal—I look upon it as a joke.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - I thought—at least I endeavoured to think your regard for me was as cold and fraternal as you professed it to be.’
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
