The hearth, traditionally a brick- or stone-lined fireplace central to home life, symbolizes warmth, nourishment, and domestic unity. Historically, it served as the heart of households for heating, cooking, and social gathering, its importance reaching into cultural and spiritual dimensions, such as the Greek goddess Hestia or Zoroastrian rituals. Authors like Carmen Sylva portrayed it as a place of emotional reunion, while Mary Stuart Boyd highlighted its inviting atmosphere, contrasting coal’s coldness with wood’s comforting presence.
In Songling Pu’s stories, the hearth became a moral judge, reflecting familial devotion or divine judgment. Edward Washburn Hopkins associated it with religious meaning, portraying the domestic fire as a sacred presence. Though modern technology has reduced its practical function, the hearth remains a cultural symbol of home and heritage, its flames still glowing in literature and memory.
Carmen Sylva,
Pilgrim Sorrow: A Cycle of Tales
“ But if one has been alone for years, and then comes home and there by the hearth stands a young, beautiful woman who laughs at one roguishly, it makes one hot about the heart and head, and one takes up one's happiness in one's arms and runs about with it like one demented. ”
Alice Bertha Gomme, The Traditional Games of England…
“ The mention of the spitting on the hearth in the Sheffield version, and dirtying the hearth in the London version, give confirmation to the theory that the desecration of the fire or hearth is the cause of the pot boiling over, and that the spirit of the hearth or fire is offended at the sacrilege. The Witch, too, may be unable to get possession of a child until she has something belonging to the house. ”
Mary Stuart Boyd,
A Versailles Christmas-Tide
“ I think the logs that purred and crackled on the hearth had much to do with its air of welcome. There is a sense of companionship about a wood fire that more enduring coal lacks. Like a delicate child, the very care it demands nurtures your affection. There was something delightfully foreign and picturesque to our town ideas in the heap of logs that Karl carried up in a great panier and piled at the side of the hearth. ”
Arthur Christopher Benson,
The Altar Fire
“ The smallest things about me seem to take up my mind. I can sit for an hour by the hearth, neither reading nor thinking, just watching the flame flicker over the coals, or the red heart of the fire eating its way upwards and outwards. ”
Songling Pu, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio…
“ In the thirteenth, their chests are torn open. In the fourteenth, their skulls are split and their teeth dragged out. In the fifteenth, they are hacked and gashed. In the sixteenth, they are pricked with steel prongs.Those who are unfilial, who do not nourish their relatives while alive or bury them when dead, who subject their parents to fright, sorrow, or anxiety—if they do not quickly repent them of their former sins, the spirit of the Hearth will report their misdoings and gradually deprive them of what prosperity they may be enjoying. ”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon,
The Golden Violet
(1827)
“ My heart is like the failing hearth Now by my side, One by one its bursts of flame Have burnt and died. ”
James George Frazer,
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion…
“ Instead of boiling it, some people nail the heart to the highest rafter of the house, or lay it on the edge of the hearth, in order that it may dry up, no doubt because the same thing happens to the witch. ”
Edward Washburn Hopkins,
The Religions of India
“ The fire on the hearth is god Agni in person, and is not a divine or mystic type; but he is prayed to as a heavenly friend. Some of these traits are old, but they are exaggerated as compared with the more ancient theology. ”
Melville Davisson Post,
The Red Book Magazine, Volume 33…
(1919)
“ I watched, also, flattening my face against the sill, for the thing to appear. “And it did appear. “A naked foot became slowly visible, as though some one were descending with extreme care from the elevation of the andiron to the great marble hearth, under this strange enlargement, now some distance below.” THE big Oriental paused, and down at me. “I knew then, Excellency, that the Master was lost! The creative energies of the Spirit suffer no division of worship; those of the body must be wholly denied. ”
John Greenleaf Whittier,
Poems of Nature, Poems Subjective and Reminiscent and Religious Poems…
“ A solitude made more intense By dreary-voiced elements, The shrieking of the mindless wind, The moaning tree-boughs swaying blind, And on the glass the unmeaning beat Of ghostly finger-tips of sleet. Beyond the circle of our hearth No welcome sound of toil or mirth Unbound the spell, and testified Of human life and thought outside. ”
Robert Louis Stevenson,
A Child's Garden of Verses
“ GOOD NIGHT When the bright lamp is carried in, The sunless hours again begin; O'er all without, in field and lane, The haunted night returns again. Now we behold the embers flee About the firelit hearth; and see Our faces painted as we pass, Like pictures, on the window-glass. Must we to bed, indeed? Well then, Let us arise and go like men, And face with an undaunted tread The long, black passage up to bed. ”
John Greenleaf Whittier,
Narrative and Legendary Poems, Complete
“ Think of the sea's dread monotone, Of the mournful wail from the pine-wood blown, Of the strange, vast splendors that lit the North, Of the troubled throes of the quaking earth, And the dismal tales the Indian told, Till the settler's heart at his hearth grew cold, And he shrank from the tawny wizard boasts, And the hovering shadows seemed full of ghosts, And above, below, and on every side, The fear of his creed seemed verified;— And think, if his lot were now thine own, To grope with terrors nor named nor known, How laxer muscle and weaker nerve And a feebler faith thy need might serve ”
Paul Verlaine,
Poems of Paul Verlaine
“ THE ROSY HEARTH, THE LAMPLIGHT'S NARROW BEAM The rosy hearth, the lamplight's narrow beam, The meditation that is rather dream, With looks that lose themselves in cherished looks; The hour of steaming tea and banished books; ”
“ The gods of the hearth exist for us still; and let all new faith be tolerant of that fetishism, lest it bruise its own roots. ”
Vernon Lee,
Ariadne in Mantua: A Romance in Five Acts
“ Say that, having a heart, a heart for husband or child, means certain grief,—well, does not riding, walking down your stairs, mean the chance of broken bones? Does not living mean old age, disease, possible blindness or paralysis, and quite inevitable aches? If, as you say, I must needs grow a heart, and if a heart must needs give agony, why, I shall live through heartbreak as through pain in any other limb.DIEGOYes,—were your heart a limb like all the rest,—but 'tis the very centre and fountain of all life.PRINCESSYou think so? 'Tis, methinks, pushing analogy too far, and metaphor. ”
active 12th century de Troyes Chrétien, Four Arthurian Romances
“ If the dart entered through the eye, why does the heart in the breast complain, when the eye, which received the first effect, makes no complaint of it at all? I can readily account for that: the eye is not concerned with the understanding, nor has it any part in it; but it is the mirror of the heart, and through this mirror passes, without doing harm or injury, the flame which sets the heart on fire. For is not the heart placed in the breast just like a lighted candle which is set in a lantern? If you take the candle away no light will shine from the lantern ”
An English Garner: Ingatherings from Our History and Literature…
“ If there be any man, In town or country, can Bring me my Heart again; I'll please him for his pain. And by these marks, I will you show That only I this Heart do owe [own] : It is a wounded Heart, Wherein yet sticks the dart. Every piece sore hurt throughout it: Faith and Troth writ round about it. It was a tame Heart, and a dear; And never used to roam: But having got this haunt, I fear 'Twill hardly stay at home. For God's sake, walking by the way, If you my Heart do see; Either impound it for a Stray, Or send it back to me! [Pg 561] To his coy Love. A Canzonet. I pray thee leave! ”
Adelaide Anne Procter,
Legends and Lyrics. Part 2
“ And a calm falls from the angel stars And soothes my great despair— The Heavens themselves look brighter, love, Since thy sweet soul is there.And if my heart is once more calm, My step is once more free, It is because each hour I feel Thou prayest still for me; Because no fate or change can come Between my soul and thee.It is because my heart is stilled. Not broken by despair, Because I see the grave is bright, And death itself is fair— I dread no more the wrath of Heaven— I have an angel there! ”
John Bunyan,
Works of John Bunyan — Complete
“ A tender heart is a wakeful, watchful heart. It watches against sin in the soul, sin in the family, sin in the calling, sin in spiritual duties and performances, &c. It watches against Satan, against the world, against the flesh, &c. But now, when the heart is not tender, there is sleepiness, unwatchfulness, idleness, a suffering the heart, the family, and calling to be much defiled, spotted, and blemished with sin; for a hard heart departs from God, and turns aside in all these things. ”
Wilhelmina Stitch, Silver linings (1928)
“ Then when a bird began to sing, and Heartbreak couldn't help but hear, there happened such a curious thing—a silvern echo did appear, enthroned itself in Heartbreak's breast and, like the bird, sang with sweet zest! So little Heartbreak tossed her head and laughed to find the world so fair. "It's true," she cried, "my heart has bled, and I have lived with black despair. But I can't be quite broken, long—with sunbeams, zephyrs, and birds' song!" ”
John Seely Hart,
A Dream of Death
(1852)
“ In my vision, it seemed that my last hour of the life of earth was swiftly passing from me. The dread presence of Death filled my chamber with mourning and gloom, and awe unspeakable. My heart, like a caged bird, now struggled and fluttered wildly in my breast, now seemed sinking, faint, and panting with weariness and fear. ”
H. Rider Haggard,
Heart of the World
“ But the Nameless one executed no purpose,—that was the work of lesser gods. In the beginning the Heart thought, and the Mouth blew with his breath, giving life to the earth, and causing it to roll forward among the spheres, and now the Eyes watched, ever smiling, while it and those upon it work out our doom, till at length its primal force grows faint and fails when, so said the priests, Heart and Mouth and Eyes will think and speak and search, and at their command a new world shall arise from the corpse of the old, and a new life from the lives of those who dwelt upon it. ”
The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night… (1885)
“ Moreover, it is said that the firm heart is of three kinds, viz., the heart dilated with light and faith, the heart wounded with fear of estrangement, and the heart which feareth to be forsaken of its Supreme Friend."—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say. ”
Rev. W. Harris, The Preacher's Complete Homiletic Commentary on the Books of the Bible…
“ They only do beset the heart with a dream of mirth, they do only make the heart drunken with some flushings of joy. A merry heart indeed is that which the assurance of God’s favour rejoiceth, and that will make the countenance cheerful in any trouble, even in death itself. It is true also that by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken, the heart and the spirit being but one string of life. ”
Morrison Heady,
The Red Moccasins: A Story
“ The colorless beads, describing the arrow and heart, had grown, in an instant, red as blood."Bleed, poor heart! bleed!" cried a soft voice close beside him. "Bleed! or be to your mother forever a sorrow!""Bleed, false heart! bleed!" cried a stern voice close behind him. "Bleed! or be to your father forever a curse! You have chosen! Abide by your choice! Up and away!" ”
Maurice Hewlett,
Helen Redeemed and Other Poems
“ Laugh at thy eld, strong lover, whose blood flows Clear from the fountain, singing as it goes, "She loves, and so I live and shall not die! Love on, love her: 'tis immortality." [36] Once more before the sun he greeted her: She glowed her joy; her mood was calm and clear As mellow evening's whenas, like a priest, Rain has absolved the world, and golden mist Hangs over all like benediction. ”
James Parton,
Caricature and Other Comic Art in All Times and Many Lands
“ If the heart is enraged, the dark veins stand out on the forehead; if the heart is grieved, tears rise to the eyes; if the heart is joyous, dimples appear in the cheeks; if the heart is merry, the face smiles. Thus it is that the face reflects the emotions of the heart. It is not because the eyes are filled with tears that the heart is sad, nor that the veins stand out on the forehead that the heart is enraged. It is the heart which leads the way in every thing. All the important sensations of the heart are apparent in the outward appearance. ”
Arthur Sherburne Hardy,
Songs of Two
“ And thy mantle-clasp which the moonbeams gild; Save the heart which beats for thy dear sake," (Oh I saw my heart as I saw the dew!) "All life hath given is Death's to take." Dear God! how can I love thy day If thou takest the heart that loves away! ”
Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible… (1700s)
“ Great distress and trouble supposed: My flesh and my heart fail. Note, Others have experienced and we must expect, the failing both of flesh and heart. The body will fail by sickness, age, and death; and that which touches the bone and the flesh touches us in a tender part, that part of ourselves which we have been but too fond of; when the flesh fails the heart is ready to fail too; the conduct, courage, and comfort fail. [2.] Sovereign relief provided in this distress: But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. ”
Egyptian Literature (1901)
“ THE CHAPTER OF PRESERVING THE HEART [From the Papyrus of Amen-hetep (Naville, “Todtenbuch,” Bd. 1. Bl. 40) .] The Chapter of not allowing the heart of Amen-hetep, triumphant, to be carried away dead in the underworld. The deceased saith: “My heart is with me, and it shall never come to pass that it shall be carried away. I am the lord of hearts, the slayer of the heart. I live in right and truth (Maāt) and I have my being therein. I am Horus, the dweller in hearts, who is within the dweller in the body. I live in my word, and my heart hath being. ”
Paul Ambroise Bigandet, The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese…
“ Again, the heart is a burning flame, as well as all the objects perceived by it, and the sensations produced in it; the pleasure and pain caused by the heart are too a burning flame, kept up by the fire of concupiscence, anger, ignorance, birth, old age, death, disquietude, tears, affliction, and sorrow. ”
Aegineta Paulus, The seven books of Paulus Ægineta… (1844)
“ Those that come on while the juices of the heart remain, seize upon the body of the heart, and hence the febrile flame is kindled, like the flame of a lamp from its wick. This is one of the modes of formation. ”
Anonymous, Gesta Romanorum Vol. II (1871)
“ There is no animal without a heart! But since he offers to prove his assertion we will hear him." The cook was sent for, and spoke thus, "My lord, listen to me. All thought proceeds from the heart. It follows, therefore, that if there be no thought, there is no heart. That boar, in the first instance, entered the garden and committed much injury. The gardener seeing it, cut off his left ear. Now if he had possessed a heart, he would have recollected the loss of so important a member. ”
Abram Joseph Ryan,
Poems: Patriotic, Religious, Miscellaneous
“ Ah! blood forgets not in its flowing its forefathers' wrongs — They are the heart's trust, from which we may ne'er be released; Blood keeps in its throbs the echoes of all the old songs And sings them the best when it flows thro' the heart of a priest.Am I not in my blood as old as the race whence I sprung? In the cells of my heart feel I not all its ebb and its flow? ”
Catherine Mumford Booth, Godliness : being reports of a series of addresses delivered at James's Hall…
“ There are no naturally perfect hearts. It must mean, then, a heart renewed by the Holy Ghost, put right with God, and then kept right. A heart cannot be kept right until it has been put right, and that is the secret of the failure with some of you. You are trying to bring forth fruits before the tree is planted. You are looking for the fruits of a perfect heart before you have got one. You may well be disappointed. You must get your heart renewed, and then kept right by the power of the Holy Ghost. ”
Caroline Lee Hentz,
Love After Marriage; and Other Stories of the Heart
“ Are there no warm and animated veins of feeling in my heart, because the tide of health no longer colours my wan and faded cheek? These enfeebled eyes, which I must now shelter from the too dazzling light, can they not still emit the rays of tenderness, and the beams of soul? This proud beauty! May she live to know what a heart she has wounded! ”
“ Till mortal heart-break throbbed in every tree; — Or (grievous ‘if’ that may be ‘yea’ o’er-soon!) , If thou, my Heart, long holden from thy Sweet, Shouldst knock Death’s door with mellow shocks of tune, Sad inquiry to make—‘When may we meet?’ Nay, if ye three, O Morn! O Spring! O Heart! ”
Benjamin Disraeli,
Tancred — Chapter XXII. The Crusader Receives a Shock
(1847)
“ The heart has also its childish and cradle malady, which may be fatal, but which, if once surmounted, enables the patient to meet with becoming power all the real convulsions and fevers of passion that are the heirloom of our after-life. ”
active 14th century Hafiz, Poems from the divan of Hafiz
“ Heart and soul are fixed upon the desire of the Beloved: this at least is, for if not, heart and soul are nought. Fate is that which comes to the brink without the heart’s blood; if not, all thy striving after the Garden of Paradise is nought. ”
