Meaning & Analysis
A sheep that has just been shorn of its valuable wool is, in fact, destitute and without its main asset. The proverb is therefore ironic, meaning the person is not rich at all, but completely poor.
Insights
Ironic Poverty
The primary metaphorical meaning is ironic, describing someone who is utterly poor or has just lost all their possessions. The use of 'rich' serves to emphasize the totality of the poverty through sarcastic contrast.
Deceptive Appearances
The proverb warns against deceptive appearances. It highlights situations where the language of wealth and success is used to mask a reality of destitution and failure.
Sudden Reversal of Fortune
The term 'new-shorn' points to a recent and sudden loss of fortune. It suggests a swift reversal of circumstances, leaving an individual exposed and defenseless, much like a sheep stripped of its protective fleece.
Agrarian Economic Irony
Rooted in an agrarian economy where wool was a key commodity, the proverb's irony would have been immediately apparent. Shearing, while enriching the owner, leaves the sheep itself bare, vulnerable, and temporarily without its primary asset, perfectly illustrating a state of sudden impoverishment.
Social Satire
The phrase functions as a form of social satire, using polite language ('rich') to deliver a sharp, critical commentary on someone's destitution. This indirectness makes the observation more biting than a direct statement of poverty.
Psychology of Vulnerability
Beyond financial ruin, the image of a 'new-shorn sheep' evokes a powerful psychological state of vulnerability, exposure, and helplessness. The sheep, stripped of its protective fleece, becomes a metaphor for a person who has lost their social or financial defenses.
Rhetorical Devices
Irony
The proverb's meaning is entirely dependent on irony, stating the complete opposite of the literal truth to create a humorous and critical effect.
Simile
It employs a simile ('As rich as...') to draw a comparison that is intentionally absurd, thereby highlighting the subject's true state of poverty.
Imagery
The phrase conjures a potent and memorable image of a bare, shivering sheep, effectively and economically conveying a state of total destitution and vulnerability.
Transcription
Quotations
The nexte that came was a Coryar And a cobeler, his brother, As ryche as a newe shorne shepe.
(Ye be as).
And wander wher thou wylt like a new shorne sheepe.
As rich as new shorne sheepe.
You remaine as rich as new shorne sheepe.
But glad to runne away like a new shorne sheepe.
(He is as).
His speculation in time will make him as rich as a new shorne-sheepe.
Necessitie had lefte him as rich as a new-shorne sheepe.
(He is as).
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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