In Praise of Stone

Abstract

Stone. A bricky weight in the hand. Something with heft. A noun that is both singular (a stone) and singular-plural (the farmhouse was built of stone). Undeniably hard. Cold, unless sun warmed. Its colour ranges from inky black, through slate grey and honeyed brown to sun bleached white. Stones are jagged, smooth, symmetrical, rough, they can fit the hand or exceed it. We skip them in pleasure, we throw them in anger. They are anchors or missives. We stoop for them. They are priceless or worthless; and they pervade the metaphorical resonance of our speech. A stone, not big enough to be a rock, though most dictionaries tie themselves into knots trying to distinguish one from another. Rock, also simultaneously singular and singular-plural. When it is worked, rock becomes stone: one builds with stone, not rock. In metaphor or simile, rock is frequently positive: ‘you are a rock’; ‘built on rock’; ‘solid as a rock.’ Stone is generally negative: ‘he was stony faced’; ‘she looked at me stonily’; ‘your heart is as cold as stone.’