the use of "of" [closed]

In the movie Act Of Valor, the narrator says this word "War is a country of will, there’s no room for sympathy."

But I'm wondering it has the same meaning of "War is a will of a country", I've seen similar usage of "of" , but I don't know how to use it , and is there any difference between the two usage.

Is the former "War is a country of will" just a poetic expression or has the same meaning of "War is a will of a country" ?

I have checked out the dictionary , but I didn't find similar example, can anyone explain this for me ? Thanks ~ It will be better if you can give me some examples, many many thanks~

Solution 1:

From your comments, you are asking if "country of will" and "will of country" are interchangeable. They are not.

Your example: "War is a country of will, there’s no room for sympathy.", is a metaphor which likens "War" to a "country (of will)". It means that "War" is a big thing with lots of different features but all of them represent "will". For "will", we assume the noun definition (summarised for simplicity from TFD, American Heritage):

Will (noun)

...

3 A desire, purpose, or determination, especially of one in authority

The metaphor is of a large country where "sympathy" does not feature. They phrase "no room" links to the idea of "will" as a spatial area (a country).

On the other hand, "will of country" is not necessarily a metaphor. A country can have a will and can express it in democratic processes. The speaker is not saying that war is necessarily the will of a country. They mean that when people are engaged in war, they do not show sympathy.

Another example of this kind of construction is "people of integrity" or "integrity of people". "People of integrity" are people who show a lot of integrity. These people were trustworthy because they were people of integrity. "Integrity of people" does not necessarily mean there is a lot of integrity. I'm never surprised by the integrity of people. The two phrases are not interchangeable.