Literary notes about ichor (AI summary)
Ichor is employed in literature as a versatile symbol imbued with both mythic and visceral connotations. Often, it is depicted as a divine, life‐infusing essence—sometimes identified as the blood of the gods that distinguishes mortal from immortal [1]—while in other contexts it becomes a metaphor for fervent creative energy or the very vitality of life itself [2], [3]. At times, its portrayal even extends to denoting a pathological secretion that underscores decay or suffering, as when it heals wounds with a restorative touch or oozes as a grim byproduct of physical injury [4]. This duality in representation allows ichor to serve as a multifaceted literary device, evoking both the exalted and the corporeal dimensions of existence.
- Ichor , an ethereal fluid presumed to supply the place of blood in the veins of the Greek gods.
— from The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by P. Austin Nuttall - On my way home the blood coursed through my veins like an immortal ichor of the gods, full of sweet and inextinguishable fire.
— from A Trip to Venus: A Novel by John Munro - I wrote it with the pen dipped in the very ichor of my life.
— from William Sharp (Fiona Macleod): A Memoir Compiled by His Wife Elizabeth A. Sharp by Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Amelia) Sharp - " So saying, she wiped the ichor from the wrist of her daughter with both hands, whereon the pain left her, and her hand was healed.
— from The Iliad by Homer
