Literary notes about Itself (AI summary)
In literature, the word "itself" functions as a powerful tool for emphasizing the intrinsic nature or singular identity of a subject. Writers employ it to highlight that something possesses a quality wholly independent of external influences, as when Tod refers to the Mala Burj as "a small fortress of itself" [1] or when Dante portrays divine power that "itself blaspheme[d]" [2]. In philosophical or abstract contexts, it underscores self-reference and autonomy—as in reflections on the mind "conceiving itself" [3] or the assertion that "the work speaks for itself" [4]. This reflexive usage not only stresses the uniqueness or self-sufficiency of an object or idea but also often lends a poetic, almost personified character that enriches the narrative.
- The Mala Burj , a ‘chaplet bastion’ blown up by Akbar, is a small fortress of itself.
— from Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3 by James Tod - [Pg 34] In shrieks and lamentations they complain, And even the Power Divine itself blaspheme.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - Proof.—When the mind conceives itself and its power of activity, it feels pleasure (III. liii.):
— from Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza - Their work speaks for itself.
— from Roughing It by Mark Twain
