Literary notes about Escort (AI summary)
The term “escort” is used with diverse implications in literature, denoting not only a protective or accompanying body in military and political contexts—as seen when a cardinal is accompanied by an attendant [1] or when a group of soldiers ensures the safe passage of prisoners [2]—but also serving a social or chaperoning function in genteel society, where it marks both honor and obligation [3, 4]. In some narratives, such as in the works of Dante, “escort” takes on a lyrical or even metaphorical quality, guiding not only individuals but symbolizing transitions from one state to another [5, 6, 7]. Meanwhile, in classic novels by Dickens and Tolstoy, the word underscores the roles of duty, protection, and sometimes irony in interpersonal relationships or state affairs [8, 9, 10].
- He had no doubt it was the cardinal and his escort.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - The prisoners, under an escort of fifteen hundred men, were sent back to Winchester.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant - For want of a better escort, Mr. Bruff himself will be that gentleman.—So here is poor Miss Verinder provided with two “chaperones.”
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - If she comes in [42] late from the opera or a party, in full dress, she should not come into the supper-room, unless her escort accompanies her.
— from The Ladies' Book of Etiquette, and Manual of Politeness by Florence Hartley - 60 To the sweet fruits I go, and leave the gall, As promised to me by my Escort true; But first I to the centre down must fall.’
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - [407] We with our trusty Escort forward went, 100 Threading the margin of the boiling blood Where they who seethed were raising loud lament.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - Then, with my Escort joined, I moved along.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - “Citizen, I desire nothing more than to get to Paris, though I could dispense with the escort.”
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - Then he delivered to the escort, drunk and sober, a receipt for the escorted, and requested him to dismount.
— from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - During this halt the escort treated the prisoners even worse than they had done at the start.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy