Literary notes about fester (AI summary)
The term fester is deployed in literature as a powerful metaphor for decay, deterioration, and the intensification of neglect. Often applied to physical wounds that, if untreated, worsen and provoke further suffering ([1], [2], [3], [4]), it also operates on a figurative level to describe the festering of emotions or societal ills that intensify over time ([5], [6], [7]). Authors use "fester" to evoke the sense of something rotting at its core—whether it is a literal sore left to decay beneath the skin ([8], [9]) or an internal grievance that corrodes the spirit ([10], [11]). This duality not only highlights the universal nature of neglect and its consequences but also reinforces the imagery of continual, destructive progression in both body and society.
- “It’s beginning to fester already, and I dare say the cutting will give as much relief as pain.”
— from The Peril Finders by George Manville Fenn - "We had absolutely nothing to eat, and our wounds began to fester, so that we could hardly move at all.
— from The Old Santa Fe Trail: The Story of a Great Highway by Henry Inman - I think thou observedst, it is probable the wound will fester, so as to occasion danger to the limb in this cold weather?”
— from The Pioneers; Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna by James Fenimore Cooper - When the skin is broken (in cuts and wounds) keep the opening covered with a bandage to keep out germs and dirt; otherwise the sore may fester.
— from Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Cavalry of the Army of the United States 1917. To be also used by Engineer Companies (Mounted) for Cavalry Instruction and Training by United States. War Department - The insult was terrible, and although unknown to the rest of the world, I felt it live and fester at the bottom of my heart.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - The whole system of imposition here is a fester that is gradually coming to a head.
— from Tamawaca Folks: A Summer Comedy by L. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum - Without some outlet, the anger caused by the ever-occurring troubles of life is apt to rankle and fester within.
— from The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome - “I’d sooner a blain showed on his lip than fester under t’ skin, and I’ve tried to learn you both to speak your minds.
— from Men of Mawm by W. (William) Riley - Undercote , or undercoat ; fester under the skin ( coat is " cutis ," skin).
— from Letters of Samuel Rutherford(Third Edition) by Samuel Rutherford - She must carry them in her heart, like the barb of an arrow in a secret wound, where they would fester and grow more painful day by day.
— from Jacqueline — Complete by Th. Bentzon - And every slight and insult shown Will fester unto deep decay, Until the grave shall claim its own.
— from Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXV, No. 6, December 1849 by Various
