Literary notes about Moat (AI summary)
Across literature, the term “moat” has been employed not only as a literal defensive barrier but also as a potent symbol for isolation, transition, and separation. In historical and romantic narratives, authors depict moats as essential fortifications surrounding castles and cities—emblems of security and exclusion seen in works like Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe [1] and Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales [2, 3]. Meanwhile, in the adventures and dramas of Dumas and Conan Doyle, moats often serve as dynamic settings for tension and interaction, whether as obstacles to be crossed or as unexpected meeting places [4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Furthermore, Dante’s epic poems repeatedly use the moat as a metaphorical boundary between realms or states of being, conveying themes of purification and transformation [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]. Even in more modern narratives, such as those by Mark Twain and Ayn Rand, the moat is reimagined to explore ideas of separation and ingenuity in everyday life [21, 22, 23, 24]. This diverse usage underscores the moat’s enduring appeal as a literary device, richly imbued with both physical and symbolic meaning.
- Around the exterior wall was a deep moat, supplied with water from a neighbouring rivulet.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott - This might have happened, indeed, if there had been a real castle, with stone walls, ramparts, and a moat.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - It stood there where once the old knightly building had stood with its tower, its pointed gables, its moat, and its drawbridge.
— from Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen by H. C. Andersen - “Your highness will approach the walls and call out to a man who works in the moat to send them back again.”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “Yes; see, I send a ball into the moat; a man is there who picks it up; the ball contains a letter.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Grimaud fell--precipitated into the moat.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - "Suddenly my eye caught the glint of a shaded lantern at the other side of the moat.
— from The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle - He instantly began to climb up the slope of the moat, on the top of which he met De Rochefort.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Thou shalt see Lethe, but outside this moat, There where the souls repair to lave themselves, When sin repented of has been removed.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - " More than a hundred were there when they heard him, Who in the moat stood still to look at me, Through wonderment oblivious of their torture.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - Thus ever more and more grew shallower That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; And there across the moat our passage was.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - To the edge of this moat they descend, bearing as usual to the left hand.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - I saw an ample moat bent like a bow, As one which all the plain encompasses, Conformable to what my Guide had said.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - Of the first moat sufficient now is known, And those who in its jaws engulfed remain.’
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - The sixth bank : Dante remains on the crown of the arch overhanging the pitch-filled moat.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - Speaking I went, not to appear exhausted; Whereat a voice from the next moat came forth, Not well adapted to articulate words.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - We had already on the following tomb Ascended to that portion of the crag Which o'er the middle of the moat hangs plumb.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - When the barrator vanished, from behind He on his comrade with his talons fell And clawed him, ’bove the moat with him entwined.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - And when the barrator had disappeared, He turned his talons upon his companion, And grappled with him right above the moat.
— from Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Hell by Dante Alighieri - A hundred shades and more, to whom the sound Had reached, stood in the moat to mark me well, Their pangs forgot; so did the words astound.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - I says: “What do we want of a moat when we’re going to snake him out from under the cabin?”
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - The Golden One were kneeling alone at the moat which runs through the field.
— from Anthem by Ayn Rand - Then they knelt by the moat, they gathered water in their two hands, they rose and they held the water out to our lips.
— from Anthem by Ayn Rand - I wish there was a moat to this cabin.
— from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
