Proverb
Proverb is a brief, simple
and popular saying, or a phrase that gives advice and effectively embodies a
commonplace truth based on practical experience or common sense. A proverb may
have an allegorical message behind its odd appearance. The reason of popularity
is due to its usage in spoken language as well as in the folk literature. Some
authors twist and bend proverbs and create anti-proverbs to add literary
effects to their works. However, in poetry, poets use proverbs strategically by
employing some parts of them in poems’ titles such as Lord Kennet has written a
poem, A Bird in the Bush, which is a popular proverb. Some poems contain
multiple proverbs like Paul Muldoon’s poem Symposium.
Use
of Popular Proverbs in Everyday Speech
- Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
- Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.
- Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
- All that glitters is not gold.
- An army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.
- The old horse in the stable still yearns to run
Examples
of Proverbs from Literature
From
William Shakespeare’s
Romeo and
Juliet:
“The
weakest goes to the wall.”
The
weak people are never favored.
“He
that is strucken blind cannot forget
The
precious treasure of his eyesight lost.”
A
man who loses his eyesight can never forget the importance of lost eyesight.
“One
fire burns out another’s burning,
One
pain is lessen’d by another’s anguish.”
You
can burn new fire from lightening another fire, similarly a new pain could
mitigate your old pain.
From
Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory
“And
when we love our sin then we are
damned indeed.”
When
do not repent our sins and instead loving them, and then we are damned.
“Nothing
in life was as ugly as death.”
Death
is the most horrible experience in life.
“There
is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in…We
should be thankful we cannot see the horrors and degradations lying around our
childhood, in cupboards and bookshelves, everywhere.”
Childhood
is a blessing for us, as we do not face horrible experiences like humiliation
and degradation from people.
Function
of Proverb
Proverbs
play very important roles in different types of literary works. The most
important function of proverbs is to teach and educate the audience. They often
contain an expert advice with a role for educating the readers on what they may
face if they would do something. Hence, proverbs play a didactic role, as they
play a universal role in teaching wisdom and sagacity to the common people.
Since proverbs are usually metaphorical and indirect; therefore, they allow
writers to express their message in a less harsh way.
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