Ruff appears in poetry as a precursor to more formal card games, symbolizing the act of trumping or overriding. In historical literature it evokes the lively play of early modern tables. Poets draw on its name and action to illustrate the sudden elevation of one force over another, linking the game to themes of dominance and the interruption of ordinary sequences.

Ruff’s early trumping action turns the elevation of one suit into a sudden override of the ordinary sequence. The game’s historical relationship to whist allows poets to evoke an earlier stage of the trump-taking tradition. Teachers may place ruff among the ancestors of the later partnership games. Related forms include the various early English trump games. The image is effective when the ordinary must be broken by a declared and superior power.