Word: sword
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...meant more as effigies of "types" of men than as specific portraits, however sharp and humorous their realism) to the forbiddingly hieratic tomb effigies of dead lords like Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, lying cross-legged and pointy-toed as though about to leap up from the slab, his sword half-drawn from its scabbard to show his readiness to defend the Christian faith...
Today's jaded youth hardly needs to be taught this lesson; sword-and-sorcery movies usually go belly up at the box office. So the trick for any modern would-be Grimm is to blend the warring moods of fantasy and cynicism. The story must create a land of outsize heroes and villains yet comment ironically on the unhappy state of a land that needs them. The tone must be grandly facetious to accommodate believers as well as skeptics. William Goldman tried all this in his 1973 novel The Princess Bride. His narrative had all the proper ingredients...
Poindexter testified that he had never heard of any scapegoat plan. But some thought the admiral was indeed falling on his sword for the sake of Ronald Reagan. "This man will never say anything that reflects adversely on his Commander in Chief," said Senate Counsel Arthur Liman. "How do we know he's not still protecting the President...
...charm, guile and unbridled self-righteousness during his long-awaited appearance in the Iran-contra hearings, he portrayed himself as a dutiful junior officer, ever willing to "salute smartly and charge up the hill" at any order from his superiors. Yet the bemedaled Marine refused to fall on his sword and take full blame for the scandal that has wounded his Commander in Chief. Although he confessed candidly -- and defiantly -- to blatant lies and deceptions, North also threw what even he called "Ollie North's dragnet" over high officials of the Administration he had served. North's net fell only...
When Reagan and Nakasone first met on the sun-drenched White House South Lawn, the President again used the double-edged sword. Turning to television cameras that were carrying the ceremonies live back to Japan, he spoke of the importance of U.S.-Japanese relations and told of the "great care" that has been taken over four decades "to mold and create this gem of a relationship." Yet he called the gaping trade imbalance between the two countries "unsustainable" and warned that "tangible actions must be taken by us both...