Literary notes about Muscle (AI summary)
The term "muscle" in literature functions on several levels—both as a literal anatomical reference and as a metaphor for strength, restraint, or emotional nuance. In certain texts, like Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass and Barrie’s Peter Pan [1, 2, 3, 4], authors use detailed anatomical labels to lend a scientific precision or surreal quality to their narratives. By contrast, in works by Dickens [5, 6] and Poe [7, 8], the phrase "not moving a muscle" vividly captures a character’s emotional control or internal tension, serving as a symbolic marker of stoicism or dramatic restraint. Meanwhile, in texts stretching from Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave [9] to Nietzsche’s reflections on fortitude [10], "muscle" becomes emblematic of raw physical power and the embodiment of will, underscoring both the physicality and the metaphorical weight of human strength. This versatile usage, oscillating between exact biological detail and broader symbolic resonance, showcases the rich, multifaceted role “muscle” plays in literary expression.
- E. Humeral part of the great pectoral muscle.
— from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll - P. Teres major muscle, on which and O is seen lying Wrisberg's nerve.
— from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll - L. Palmaris brevis muscle.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - L. Flexor carpi radialis muscle.
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - Ralph did not allow a muscle of his face to indicate that he heard one word of this parting address.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - I'll eat my head if he is not a bad one,' growled Mr. Grimwig, speaking by some ventriloquial power, without moving a muscle of his face.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - No muscle quivered; no nerve thrilled; no artery throbbed.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - He's a thin-skin'd cuss, and won't bear as much whipping as some; but he's got the muscle in him, and no mistake."
— from Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup - War hardens and develops muscle.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche
