Literary notes about bone (AI summary)
Throughout literature, “bone” appears in both literal and figurative forms. Shakespeare invokes it as a stand-in for physical presence and kinship (“Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone” [1]) and as a grim emblem of death (“I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth” [2]). Elsewhere, bone highlights conflict (“I guessed the bone of contention” [3]) or heritage (“We are thy bone, and thy flesh” [4]). Authors also describe it in practical contexts, such as bone tools shaping daily life (“which were of indian fabrication made of bone” [5]) or medical concerns involving injuries (“it had not penetrated the bone” [6]). These varied uses underscore how “bone” can represent both the most tangible aspects of the human body and deeper symbolic or thematic resonances across texts.
- Now, Troy, sink down; Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth than to either of these.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - I guessed the bone of contention: the Frenchman had no money, and the vetturino asked in vain for his due.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Then all Israel gathered themselves to David in Hebron, saying: We are thy bone, and thy flesh.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - they had broke both their giggs which were of indian fabrication made of bone.
— from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis - A glance at his wound told me that it had not penetrated the bone.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
