Literary notes about Posture (AI summary)
Writers employ the term "posture" not only to depict a character’s physical position but also to convey abstract attitudes or states of affairs. In some works, it signifies a definitive physical stance—whether the meditative calm of a lotus posture [1, 2, 3], a defensive readiness [4, 5, 6], or even the recumbence of death [7, 8, 9]—creating a vivid visual impression of both the body and the mind. In other texts, "posture" operates metaphorically, marking shifts in social or political conditions [10, 11, 12] or suggesting a broader emotional state, such as the vulnerability of a recumbent figure or the assertive bearing of those who rise against adversity [13, 14, 15]. This dual application enriches the narrative by linking the physical form directly to psychological or ideological content.
- Selecting a shady spot near one of the pillars, I arranged my body in the lotus posture.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - " I entered the ashram room where Master's body, unimaginably lifelike, was sitting in the lotus posture-a picture of health and loveliness.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - There, in lotus posture, sat the supreme Babaji.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - The man recovered himself, and seemed inclined to come on, and Clare, stepping outside the door, put himself in a posture of defence.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - He had given the enemy a breathing time, they said, of thirty days, being no less than they required to put themselves in a posture of defence.
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch - Then I prepared myself within, putting myself in a posture of defence.
— from The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall.
— from The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe - The dead are buried in a recumbent posture.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston - The dead are buried in a sitting posture.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 7 of 7 by Edgar Thurston - This declaration completely changed the whole posture of affairs.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - In such a posture of things, the public decision might be less swayed by prepossessions in favor of the legislative party.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - And when he advised patience in the present posture of affairs, he would say, “Let us be content with our Cato.”
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - Man alone, erect, aspiring, lifts his forehead to the skies, And in upright posture steadfast seems earth's baseness to despise.
— from The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius - Becky still kept her kneeling posture and clung to Sir Pitt's hand.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - I rose from my sitting posture, and knelt.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs
