As great as INKLE-WEAVERS¹ (beggars)

Insights

Intimate Alliance

The proverb serves as a metaphor for any intensely close relationship, suggesting a bond forged through shared work, hardship, or mutual dependence. The physical proximity of the weavers symbolizes a deep emotional or social connection.

Bond of Shared Condition

It illustrates how a common profession or social condition can create powerful in-group solidarity. The weavers or beggars represent any group whose members are bound together by a shared identity and experience, making them inseparable.

Exclusive Familiarity

The phrase can imply a level of familiarity that is almost secretive or exclusive, suggesting a partnership where individuals are 'in on something' together, whether a craft, a secret, or a shared struggle.

Historical Craft and Community

The proverb offers a window into the social world of 17th and 18th-century craftspeople. Inkle weavers worked on narrow looms, often in close physical proximity, making their profession a powerful symbol of intimacy and shared purpose. The comparison to beggars, who relied on mutual support for survival, reinforces the theme of bonds forged through shared circumstances.

Psychology of Shared Experience

The proverb captures the psychological phenomenon where shared, focused activity or mutual hardship creates intense social bonds. The physical closeness of the weavers mirrors the emotional and psychological closeness that develops from interdependent work or a common social status.

Conspiratorial Intimacy

The use of this phrase by authors like Bunyan and Swift to describe characters (e.g., 'Cerberus and Mr. Profane') suggests that such intense closeness could also imply a conspiratorial or exclusive alliance, viewed with suspicion by outsiders. It highlights the dual nature of intimacy as both a source of support and a potential basis for exclusion or plotting.

Rhetorical Devices

Simile

The proverb is a simile that uses the specific, concrete image of 'inkle-weavers' or 'beggars' to create a vivid and memorable picture of abstract closeness and intimacy.

Symbolism

The 'inkle-weaver' functions as a cultural and historical symbol for collaborative work and the close relationships that result from it, grounding the abstract idea of friendship in a tangible, real-world activity.

Historical Allusion

The phrase alludes to the specific social and working conditions of a particular historical craft, using this specialized knowledge to create a widely understood expression for intimacy.