Literary notes about sack (AI summary)
The term "sack" in literature serves as a remarkably versatile word, weaving together literal and figurative meanings that enrich narrative detail. Its primary sense as a bag or container is evident in descriptions of everyday objects—whether carrying coal [1], flour [2], or even precious stones [3]—and extends to specialized uses like a filtration device [4] or a component of marine equipment [5]. At the same time, "sack" functions metaphorically in expressions ranging from the epithet “stupid as a sack” [6] to vivid depictions of plunder and destruction, as seen in the sack of cities [7, 8] and the chaotic energy of battle [9]. Additionally, the word appears in culinary and libation contexts, referring to a fortified wine in several Shakespearean passages [10, 11], thereby emphasizing its capacity to shift meaning with context. This multifaceted usage not only reflects the word’s everyday ubiquity but also its symbolic power in evoking diverse moods and settings across literary genres.
- There was the rent to pay, and still some on the furniture; there was the insurance just due, and every month there was sack after sack of coal.
— from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair - “‘Dear little Hans,’ said the Miller, ‘would you mind carrying this sack of flour for me to market?’
— from The Happy Prince, and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde - Then he took up a sack full of precious stones, and slipped away again under the rock into his hole.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - It is a filtration device employing a cotton sack with a thickened bottom.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - Arriving on the seafloor at a depth of about five meters, he fell to his knees and stuffed his sack with shellfish gathered at random.
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - [The epithet in the original is Sak , a sack; glupi jak sak, “stupid as a sack,” is a Polish proverb.
— from Pan Tadeusz; or, The last foray in Lithuania by Adam Mickiewicz - They even talk about the conquest and sack of Delhi."
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - to the sack!” “To the sack!” repeated the rabble, with a furious hurrah.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - They will not repay their aged parents the cost their nurture, for might shall be their right: and one man will sack another's city.
— from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica by Hesiod - A plague upon such backing! give me them that will face me.—Give me a cup of sack: I am a rogue, if I drunk to-day.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Why, thou debauched fish, thou, was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day?
— from The Tempest by William Shakespeare
