Literary notes about hew (AI summary)
The word “hew” has been used in literature to convey both the literal act of cutting or cleaving and a metaphorical act of transformation or destruction. In some texts, it vividly portrays acts of brutal violence or dismemberment—as seen in the graphic imagery of John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi ([1], [2]) and the bloodshed in Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel ([3]). In contrast, other authors employ the term more innocuously to describe everyday or industrial tasks, such as chopping wood in More’s Utopia ([4]) or even shaping the natural world in instructional or poetic contexts ([5]). Additionally, “hew” serves as a metaphor for overcoming obstacles or carving a path forward, exemplified in James Allen’s depiction of the human will ([6]), and even appears in ancient mythological settings where gods engage in daily combats ([7]). This varied usage highlights the fluidity of the word, capable of evoking both physical violence and metaphorical creativity.
- Why, to make soft lint for his mother's wounds, When I have hew'd her to pieces.
— from The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster - I 'll have thee hew'd in pieces. BOSOLA.
— from The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster - Then immediately commanded he his guard to hew him in pieces, which was instantly done, and that so cruelly that the chamber was all dyed with blood.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais - These husbandmen till the ground, breed cattle, hew wood, and convey it to the towns either by land or water, as is most convenient.
— from Utopia by Saint Thomas More - Ere man learned To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave, And spread the roof above them—ere he framed
— from The symbolism of Freemasonry : by Albert Gallatin Mackey - "The human Will, that force unseen, The offspring of a deathless Soul, Can hew a way to any goal, Though walls of granite intervene.
— from As a man thinketh by James Allen - As is here said: All the einherjes In Odin’s court Hew daily each other.
— from The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson
