Literary notes about Reave (AI summary)
In literature, “reave” functions as a vivid, often archaic term used to describe the act of forcibly taking away or depriving someone of something, whether that be life, love, or power. It evokes the sudden, sometimes violent extraction of what one holds dear, as in the lament of losing life itself in “[1]” or the act of being stripped of a spouse in “[2]” and “[3].” The word carries both a literal and metaphorical heft, lending itself to dramatic proclamations of loss and robbery, as further underlined by its concise definition as “snatch away, rob” in “[4].” This layered usage reinforces themes of vulnerability and the inescapable nature of fate throughout various poetic and narrative forms.
- the hour that parts us twa Of life itself will reave me.
— from The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume 4.
The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century - 'He wold pull downe my halles and castles, And reave me of my lyfe; I cannot blame him if he doe, If I reave him of his wyfe.
— from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume 2 (of 5) - "He wold pull downe my halles and castles, And reave me of my lyfe:
— from English and Scottish Ballads, Volume 3 (of 8) - Reave , iii, 36 ; xi, 41 , snatch away, rob.
— from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Edmund Spenser