Meaning & Analysis
A simile describing something as being exceptionally white by comparing it to the color of 'whale's bone'—a term historically used to refer to the ivory from walrus or narwhal tusks, which were known for their bright, white appearance.
Insights
Idealized Beauty
The stark, pure color of the bone symbolizes idealized beauty and physical perfection. In historical literature, it was a conventional way to praise desirable features like pale skin or white teeth, reflecting aristocratic standards of beauty.
Purity and Innocence
Whiteness is a traditional symbol of purity, innocence, and virtue. Comparing a person to 'whale's bone' suggests an untainted or morally upright character, free from blemish.
Starkness and Fear
As seen in Spenser's 'Faerie Queene', the simile can also describe the deathly pallor induced by extreme fear. In this context, the whiteness is not one of beauty but of shock and the draining of life's color.
Historical Misconception
The term 'whale's bone' is likely a historical misnomer for walrus or narwhal ivory, which was highly prized for its pure white color. This confusion reflects the limited and often mythologized understanding of marine biology during the medieval and Renaissance periods, making the simile an artifact of a pre-scientific worldview.
Literary and Cultural Convention
This simile became a stock phrase in medieval and Renaissance literature, used by authors like Spenser and Shakespeare to denote an idealized, almost superlative whiteness. Its frequent use in describing teeth and pale skin reveals the prevailing beauty standards of the era, where fairness was associated with aristocracy and refinement.
Symbolism of the Exotic
The power of the simile derives from the whale's status as a mysterious and formidable creature of the deep. The comparison elevates the quality of whiteness from mundane to mythic, associating it with the rarity, value, and exoticism of materials derived from such a source.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
The proverb is a direct comparison using 'as...as' to vividly describe a degree of whiteness by likening it to a tangible, if misunderstood, object.
Hyperbole
The comparison elevates the quality of whiteness to an extreme, suggesting a level of purity or pallor that is almost unnatural or perfect, thus exaggerating for effect.
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'w' sound in 'white' and 'whale' creates a memorable, poetic rhythm that enhances the phrase's appeal and staying power.
Transcription
Quotations
And sche be whyte as whales bone.
With tethe as whyte as whalles bone.
As who wolde say there is none here I trow, will me forsake, I might parceaue a woolfe, as whyte as whale his bone.
Your teeth as white as euer was the whales bone.
A goodly Ladie . . Whose face did seeme as cleare as Christall stone, And eke through feare as white as whales bone.
Herrings, which were as white as whales bone.
His beard was all on a white a, as white as Whale is bone.
Shakespeare Citations
This is the flow'r that smiles on every one To show his teeth as white as whalës-bone.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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