Famous literature creates a common set of references among readers. We know that an odyssey is a long journey, but the word came from the journey of one man, Odysseus, the protagonist in Homer’s epic poem. Linguists often credit the widespread adoption of certain idioms to popular literature, too. Though we can’t always definitively attribute invention of those idioms to specific authors, the first written instances of them are often found in classic literature.
Going back to ancient times, you can find idioms you use every day in the books that populate our classrooms and home libraries.
Meaning: A warning against risking all one has on the success or failure of one thing.
Literary origin: The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes (1605)
Published originally in two parts in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is a fundamental text in the literary canon. The Spanish novel follows the story of a low-ranking noble, Don Quixote, who goes on a journey to become a knight and brings along a farm worker named Sancho as his squire. Sancho, the grounding force in the novel, says, “’Tis the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket.” The squire provides needed common sense in the face of Quixote’s high-minded chivalry mission.
Meaning: Essentially, calling someone a hypocrite for criticizing someone else for a fault they also have.
Literary origin: Some Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (1693)
Writers often have to point out logical gaps or hypocritical actions in their characters. In Thomas Shelton’s English translation of Don Quixote, released in 1620, this phrase appears in a different form: “You are like what is said that the frying-pan said to the kettle, ‘Avant, black-browes.’” William Penn updated the phrase in a 1693 work with an outline of the hypocritical acts that define the idiom: “For a Covetous Man to inveigh against Prodigality, an Atheist against Idolatry, a Tyrant against Rebellion, or a Lyer against Forgery, and a Drunkard against Intemperance, is for the Pot to call the Kettle black.”
Meaning: When someone has fallen in love, they may not see the faults of the people they love.
Literary origin: “The Merchant’s Tale” in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (late 14th century)
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales are a series of short stories, written in verse, and presented as a competition of stories told by pilgrims traveling from London to Canterbury Cathedral. When they were written at the end of the 14th century, this was a common journey, and those who took it had to find a way to entertain each other. “The Merchant’s Tale” is a story of falling in love, both virtuously and sinfully. In Middle English, Chaucer wrote, “For loue is blynd alday and may nat see.” The phrasing also appears in Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, Henry V, and The Merchant of Venice.
Meaning: To fall dead, especially in battle; to suffer humiliation or defeat.
Literary origin: The Iliad by Homer (Eighth century BCE)
Long before Freddie Mercury sang, “Another one bites the dust,” with Queen, the phrase had been in common literary usage since ancient times. Homer’s epic poem The Iliad is all about a war, so the meaning of falling dead or suffering defeat is appropriate. In the translation by Samuel Butler, published in 1898, he wrote in Book II of The Iliad: “Grant that my sword may pierce the shirt of Hector about his heart, and that full many of his comrades may bite the dust as they fall dying round him.” At this point in the story, the armies are marshalling troops and preparing for battle.
Meaning: Well-thought-out plans often go awry.
Literary origin: “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns (1785)
The title of John Steinbeck’s 1937 novel Of Mice and Men came from a well-known idiom. Literary people would have known what they were getting with the book because the Scottish poet Robert Burns used a version of the phrase back in 1785. In his poem “To a Mouse,” he declared: “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men / Gang aft agley.” In this context, he meant plans often go awry.
Meaning: To use one’s resources or energies to excess.
Literary origin: “First Fig” in A Few Figs From Thistles by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1918)
Edna St. Vincent Millay coined this extremely useful phrase in a short poem:
“My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
It gives a lovely light!”
In the poem, the candle burning from both ends represents a life lived passionately — worthwhile (for its lovely light) even if it shortens the life itself. The idiom has come to represent a drearier meaning of someone wearing themself out by doing too much. St. Vincent Millay’s poems and plays were always evocative and pointed. She followed traditional poetic structure, yet still appealed with other stylistic choices. She was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1923, so it makes sense that her words have worked their way into the lexicon.
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