Literary notes about winnow (AI summary)
The term “winnow” in literature captures both its literal agricultural meaning and a rich metaphorical resonance. In its primary sense, it refers to the process of separating grain from chaff—an essential step in harvest, as illustrated by its careful use in accounts of barley and corn processing ([1], [2], [3]). Yet writers have also harnessed this image to evoke the idea of sifting through ideas, emotions, or qualities to isolate what is pure or valuable. This figurative application appears in poetic and philosophical contexts where to “winnow” means to clear away the superfluous or even sinful, much like separating truth from error or the good from the ill ([4], [5], [6], [7]). Consequently, whether describing the practical mechanics of threshing or symbolizing a deeper cleansing process, “winnow” serves as a powerful literary device that bridges the gap between tangible agricultural labor and the abstract purification of thought and character.
- Sow me this barley, which will spring up and ripen quickly; then you must cut it, thresh it, and winnow it, so that you can malt it and grind it.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - He has to cut the crops, carry them to the barn (kalam), separate the corn from the stalk, and winnow it.
— from Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7 by Edgar Thurston - He has sown, but he has also to reap; and if reaping is done, he has to thresh and to winnow.
— from Talks to Farmers by C. H. (Charles Haddon) Spurgeon - But winnow well this thought, and you shall find 'Tis light as chaff that flies before the wind.
— from The Poetical Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by John Dryden - We must be very patient with you through the long years it will take to cast away the slime and winnow out the simple goodness, which is also there.
— from Our Part in the Great War by Arthur Gleason - What we lack in our work may He find in our will, And winnow in mercy our good from the ill!
— from Occasional Poems Part 3 from Volume IV of The Works of John Greenleaf Whittier by John Greenleaf Whittier - It is assumed that the former will be better able than the latter to separate the reality from the appearance, to winnow the grain from the chaff.
— from The Girl of the Period, and Other Social Essays, Vol. 2 (of 2) by E. Lynn (Elizabeth Lynn) Linton
