Literary notes about both (AI summary)
The word "both" is used in literature as a versatile coordinating conjunction that pairs two elements—be they characters, qualities, actions, or objects—to emphasize their joint significance or offer a balanced comparison. In epic poetry and classical texts, for instance, it serves to underscore the dual roles of figures or attributes, such as in Virgil’s depiction of divine messengers [1] or in descriptions of armies and fleets [2]. In more analytical or expository prose, "both" connects parallel ideas or qualities, as seen when it links grammar components [3] or contrasts physical and abstract properties [4]. Its usage spans a wide spectrum: from highlighting the simultaneous actions of characters, such as two individuals sharing similar fates [5] or both crying out in unison [6], to underlining the dual nature of concepts in philosophical or critical arguments [7, 8]. Thus, whether in narrative dialogue or scholarly discourse, "both" provides a succinct method to draw attention to pairs that are equal in contribution or significance.
- Now even the gods' interpreter, sent straight from Jove—I call both to witness—hath borne down his commands through the fleet air.
— from The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil - Both armies stood a long time at the margin of the river, keeping quiet from dread of the result; and profound silence was observed on both sides.
— from The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian - These are the infinitive (which is both verb and noun ) and the participle (which is both verb and adjective ).
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - It is composed both of the infinitely great and the infinitely little.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - And they were both happy.
— from Best Russian Short Stories - Suddenly they both cried out at once: [Pg 226] “Whyever is he so long coming.
— from Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore - Information concerning one specific tendency is of no avail for the exclusion of its opposite; there is room for both of them.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud - It is under Capricorn, and therefore under both Saturn and Mars, one rids melancholy by sympathy, the other by antipathy.
— from The Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper
