Literary notes about deform (AI summary)
The word "deform" in literature has served as a multifaceted metaphor, describing both physical alterations and moral or societal corruption. In some texts, such as Durkheim’s work [1] and Rousseau’s contemplation [2], the term illustrates how certain processes or interventions irreparably distort natural states, whether they be social forms or the human body. Meanwhile, literary figures like Whitman [3], Milton [4][5], Homer [6], and Webster [7] wield the term to evoke images of degraded character and diminished integrity, often emphasizing that external influences—whether anger, dishonor, or societal pressure—can mar both appearance and spirit. Together, these examples highlight the versatility of "deform" as a literary device, one that transcends mere physicality to address deeper ethical and existential concerns.
- Then since it contributes to the elaboration of this latter, it cannot fail to do it violence to some extent, and to deform it.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim - In our fear lest the body should become deformed by free movement, we hasten to deform it by putting it in a press.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Never were publicly display'd more deform'd, mediocre, snivelling, unreliable, false-hearted men.
— from Complete Prose Works by Walt Whitman - 490 Sight so deform what heart of Rock could long Drie-ey'd behold?
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton - Sight so deform what heart of Rock could long Drie-ey’d behold?
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - le sand; Deform'd, dishonour'd, in his native land, Given to the rage of an insulting throng, And, in his parents' sight, now dragg'd along!
— from The Iliad by Homer - There is not in nature A thing that makes man so deform'd, so beastly, As doth intemperate anger.
— from The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
