rend vs tear at

rend

verb
  • To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst 

  • To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force; to amputate. 

  • To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split. 

noun
  • A violent separation of parts. 

tear at

verb
  • To pull at violently. 

  • To afflict or aggrieve. 

How often have the words rend and tear at occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )