Literary notes about Errant (AI summary)
In literature, errant is most often used to evoke a sense of wandering and deviation that can be found both in character and action. Frequently attached to the archetypal knight, the term appears in phrases such as knight‐errant to denote a chivalrous, adventurous hero ever in motion on quests of valor and redemption [1][2][3][4]. At times, errant is employed more broadly to characterize physical movements or dispositions that stray from the expected course, as when a character’s wandering steps symbolize a departure from duty or order [5][6][7]. Such varied usage enriches the narrative, lending both a literal and metaphorical depth that underscores themes of exploration, misdirection, and the quest for purpose [8][9].
- His expeditions may vie in distance and danger with the pilgrimage of the devotee or the crusade of the knight-errant.
— from The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon by Washington Irving - So Montague made his début in the rôle of knight-errant.
— from The Metropolis by Upton Sinclair - Don Quixote overheard the conversation and said, "Haply, gentlemen, you are versed and learned in matters of errant chivalry?
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - A plague on all the knights-errant in the world, if they be all ungrateful!
— from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - The MS. reads: "My errant footsteps | far and wide.
— from The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott - He said it in a very agony, and even followed it with an errant motion of his hands as if he could have torn himself.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - Why, with all of my errant steps Did I miss the fate of Willard Fluke?
— from Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters - Chasing an errant swarm of bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic, when the fit of escaping is upon him!
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - Syme’s eyes were still fixed upon the errant orb, which, reddened in the evening light, looked like some rosier and more innocent world.
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton
