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.
- 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 - But how was the fetter smithied?
— from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - O You who chafe at every fetter's link, A restless spirit, never free:
— from Ecce Homo by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Fetter-lane is clearly alluded to by the poet.
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop - In Gerard’s rosery of Fetter lane he walks, greyedauburn.
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - 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 - [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 - 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