Literary notes about uproot (AI summary)
The term "uproot" has been used in literature with rich versatility, frequently serving as a powerful metaphor for both displacement and destruction. In some works, uprooting embodies the forceful removal or displacement of entire groups or ideas, as seen when communities are metaphorically plucked from their homelands [1, 2] or when pervasive cultural elements are forcefully eradicated [3]. In contrast, classical texts employ "uproot" to evoke vivid imagery of physical demolition, whether it be the dismantling of towering fortifications and forests in ancient epics [4, 5, 6] or the deliberate extraction of core elements in a broader struggle for renewal [7, 8]. Even within fables, the word captures natural cycles and survival strategies, such as when a creature seeks to literally unseat a solid oak as a means to secure sustenance [9]. Meanwhile, its lexicon roots extend into translation and adaptation, underscoring its literal sense of tearing or pulling out from the earth [10].
- They might uproot one group but they’d stick at the next.
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - But hardly had they resumed the peaceful tenor of their ways when they were forced to uproot again.
— from Juliette Drouet's Love-Letters to Victor Hugo by Juliette Drouet and Louis Guimbaud - All efforts were now put forth to uproot not only Christianity but also everything of foreign planting.
— from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis - Beneath our feet, see you not how Destruction's plotted by the sow? Her constant digging, soon or late, Our proud old castle will uproot.
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine - They will pull down with their trunks battlements, and uproot trees, standing erect upon their hind feet.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - ; Uproot the forest oaks, and bear away Flocks, folds, and trees, an undistinguish'd prey.
— from The Iliad by Homer - Should the propagator of the new faith uproot the entire stock, root and branches, and plant the seeds of the Gospel on the ravaged soil?
— from Bushido, the Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe - The contention is, in brief, that you must pull up a hundred roots, and not one, before you uproot any of these hoary and simple expedients.
— from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. Chesterton - The Wild Sow, whom you see daily digging up the earth, wishes to uproot the oak, so she may on its fall seize our families as food for her young.”
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop - arrancar t uproot, tear out, tear (away), pull out.
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós
