Literary notes about head (AI summary)
The word “head” wears many hats in literature, oscillating between the literal and the symbolic. It can denote the physical body’s top, as in violent dismemberments that emphasize fall or transformation ([1], [2]), or serve as a metonym for authority and leadership, carrying the weight of responsibility and power ([3], [4]). At times it echoes the realm of thought and mental acuity—referring to ideas, cleverness, or the capacity for judgment ([5], [6])—while in other instances it manifests vulnerability and intimacy in moments of sorrow or tenderness ([7], [8]). This multifaceted usage illustrates how "head" not only anchors the physical form but also extends metaphorically to encapsulate inner life and societal roles.
- Sir Launcelot put his shield afore him, and put the stroke away of the one giant, and with his sword he clave his head asunder.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - could you see him--all his head bound up!-- But let us haste!--There's no one by his bed!--
— from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand - Napoleon massed four thousand grenadiers at the head of the bridge, with a battalion of three hundred carbineers in front.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - On the solemn day, the monarch of Gaul, placing a diadem on his head, was invested, in the church of St. Martin, with a purple tunic and mantle.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - We are striving for the freedom of women and you have only one idea in your head....
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Reading is thinking with some one else's head instead of one's own.
— from The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer; The Art of Literature by Arthur Schopenhauer - Bella hung her head and seemed to shrink a little from Mr Boffin's protecting arm.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - Had she been put into a low dress she would have run and thrust her head into a bush.
— from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
