![]() ![]() ![]() Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, 1970 'Bleeding Heart' Becomes an Insult There she built her nest, ironed shirts, potted bleeding hearts, played with her cat, and birthed Louis Junior. Hatsy Shields, The Atlantic Monthly, March 2001 That Sunday the hedged enclosures of Page Dickey's Duck Hill, in North Salem, New York, were completely captivating, the beds of phlox, peonies, foxgloves, roses, and bleeding hearts all in crisp nurse-white bloom. Most plants bearing the name belong to the genus Dicentra, but the one most commonly called a bleeding heart has racemes of usually pink or white heart-shaped flowers that droop. The plant called the bleeding heart was first known by that name in the late 17th century. Daniel Defoe, The Fortunate Mistress, 1724 ![]() Upon the whole, I mourned thus for her for above a month but finding Amy still come not near me, and that I must put my affairs in a posture that I might go to Holland, I opened all my affairs to my dear trusty friend the Quaker, and placed her, in matters of trust, in the room of Amy and with a heavy, bleeding heart for my poor girl, I embarked with my spouse, and all our equipage and goods, on board another Holland's trader, not a packet-boat, and went over to Holland, where I arrived, as I have said. In other literature, the term was used more broadly as a sincere evocation or pain or heartache, not necessarily on behalf of another: It likewise followed in religious oratory and writings that made reference to Jesus’s lamentations on behalf of the poor, the sick, or the struggling. In later centuries, bleeding heart developed a literal association in religious writing and iconography, specifically used for the image of the heart of Jesus Christ. That nevere of hym she wolde han taken hede,įor which hym thoughte he felte his herte blede Geoffrey Chaucer employed the image in his epic 14th-century poem Troilus and Criseyde: 2010 Early Use of 'Bleeding Heart'īefore bleeding heart was ever an established phrase, the notion of hearts bleeding as a sincere emotional outpouring was a common one in art and literature. Jesse McKinley, The New York Times, 12 Jan. Walter Goodman, The New York Times, 29 July 1990īurly, bearded and gleefully obscene, Dan de Vaul does not look the part of the bleeding-heart homeless advocate, sporting as he does a feather-topped cowboy hat, a large collection of guns and a bushel of hoary wisecracks. He directs his shafts against advocates of such causes as abortion rights, environmental protection, uncensored art, the homeless, victims of AIDS and animal rights. The most contentious figure in the C-Span sample is Rush Limbaugh, whose baiting of bleeding hearts weekday mornings over WABC-AM in New York is syndicated to some four million listeners. This seems to have struck a chord with some of the congressional bleeding hearts. The campaign's second element has been to promulgate stories about small businesses and farmers driven out of business by estate taxes. Perhaps not as common as it used to be, the phrase is historically lobbed more frequently at those whose politics are of the liberal persuasion. The term bleeding heart shows up in political writing as a derogatory term for someone who expresses excessive sympathy for another’s unfortunate situation. ![]()
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