Martyred

Famous quotes containing the word martyred:

    Their martyred blood and ashes sow
    O’er all the Italian fields where still doth sway
    The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
    A hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way,
    Early may fly the Babylonian woe.
    John Milton (1608–1674)

    As her sons have seen her: the mother in patriarchy: controlling, erotic, castrating, heart-suffering, guilt-ridden, and guilt-provoking; a marble brow, a huge breast, an avid cave; between her legs snakes, swampgrass, or teeth; on her lap a helpless infant or a martyred son. She exists for one purpose: to bear and nourish the son.
    Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)

    all that we might have been,
    all that we were—fire, tears,
    wit, taste, martyred ambition—
    stirs like the memory of refused adultery
    the drained and flagging bosom of our middle years.
    Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)