he was a man of handsome body

[nelson13]

In 'Odour of Chrysanthemums' by DH Lawrence is a sentence: He was a man of handsome body.

I wonder why there isn't an article for BODY, because it is usually considered a countable noun.

The only uncountable sense I could find in OALD was:

the full strong flavour of alcoholic drinks or the thick healthy quality of somebody's hair

1.a wine with plenty of body
2.Regular use of conditioner is supposed to give your hair more body.

But this cannot be the meaning shown in that short story.

Could anyone help me?

Thank you.

 

[Gillnetter]

In 'Odour of Chrysanthemums' by DH Lawrence is a sentence: He was a man of handsome body.

I wonder why there isn't an article for BODY, because it is usually considered a countable noun.

The only uncountable sense I could find in OALD was:


But this cannot be the meaning shown in that short story.

Could anyone help me?

Thank you.

The physical body of the man was handsome. Lawrence wrote that the man was, in another term, good-looking.

 

[Rover_KE]

Lawrence wrote this story in 1909.

'He was a man of handsome body' is unlikely to be written by a modern author.

 

[nelson13]

Lawrence wrote this story in 1909.

'He was a man of handsome body' is unlikely to be written by a modern author.

Thank you.

So you think this is incorrect (in grammar?)if a modern writer uses such a sentence structure?

 

[5jj]

So you think this is incorrect (in grammar?)if a modern writer uses such a sentence structure?

It's certainly unnatural.

 

[nelson13]

It's certainly unnatural.

But my feeling is that if I say 'a man of a/the handsome body', it is unnatural....

 

[5jj]

But my feeling is that if I say 'a man of a/the handsome body', it is unnatural....

It is. We do not use such expressions today of a man who has a good body.

 

[nelson13]

It is. We do not use such expressions today of a man who has a good body.

Oh.... Thank you very much.

By the way, is there any book on pre-contemporary English? (from Early Modern English to the English used in the first half of the 20th century)