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Literary notes about fetter (AI summary)

The term “fetter” has been used in literature in a variety of both literal and figurative senses. In mythological and epic contexts—such as in The Younger Edda—it often denotes a physical chain or binding, as seen in accounts of the Fenris-wolf’s restraints ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]). In other works, however, authors employ “fetter” as a metaphor for constraints that limit human freedom, whether they be the “odious fetter” of study in Shelley's narrative ([8], [9]), the binding nature of relationships as alluded to by Maupassant ([10], [11]), or even the abstract social or ideological bonds critiqued by figures like Nietzsche ([12], [13]). Additionally, “Fetter Lane” appears in several texts as a locational marker—illustrating how the term has branched into both a physical place in London and a broader symbol of confinement ([14], [15], [16], [17], [18]). In these diverse usages across historical, mythological, and social themes, “fetter” vividly captures the dual essence of constraint as both an external imposition and an internal limitation.
  1. The fetter with which the Fenris-wolf was chained.
    — from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
  2. But how was the fetter smithied?
    — from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
  3. The wolf thought that this fetter was indeed very strong, but also that his strength had increased since he broke Lading.
    — from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
  4. The last fetter with which the wolf Fenrer was bound.
    — from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
  5. But as soon as he spurned against it the fetter burst asunder, and he was free from Lading.
    — from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
  6. Then the asas made another fetter, by one-half stronger, and this they called Drome.
    — from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
  7. They brought it to the wolf, and bade him try his strength on the fetter.
    — from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
  8. He looks upon study as an odious fetter;—his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  9. He looks upon study as an odious fetter; his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  10. I saw the fetter that I should wear until my death, everywhere, in my future family life, in my old age, forever; the fetter of a woman boun
    — from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
  11. I saw the fetter that I should wear until my death, everywhere, in my future family life, in my old age, forever; the fetter of a woman boun
    — from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant
  12. Our belief in ourselves is the greatest fetter, the most telling spur, and the strongest pinion.
    — from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche
  13. O You who chafe at every fetter's link, A restless spirit, never free:
    — from Ecce Homo by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
  14. Fetter-lane is clearly alluded to by the poet.
    — from Aesop's Fables by Aesop
  15. In Gerard’s rosery of Fetter lane he walks, greyedauburn.
    — from Ulysses by James Joyce
  16. Dring at the Blew Anchor next Mitre Court over against Fetter Lane in Fleet-street.
    — from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton
  17. [40] in Fetter Lane, which yielded me as much more: so that I was not in any danger of leaving my family upon the parish.
    — from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift
  18. I removed from the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account.
    — from Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Regions of the World by Jonathan Swift

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