Literary notes about afoot (AI summary)
The word “afoot” in literature has been used both in its literal sense—to denote traveling on foot—and as a metaphor for events that are in progress. In many works, it vividly contrasts walking with other modes of travel, suggesting simplicity, endurance, or humility, as seen when characters choose to journey afoot over riding a horse ([1], [2], [3], [4]). At the same time, “afoot” adopts a more figurative role in hinting at unfolding schemes or impending changes, which adds an air of mystery or urgency to the narrative—examples include references to covert plans or notable events in motion ([5], [6], [7], [8]). This duality not only enriches the language but also reflects the diverse narrative techniques employed by authors ranging from Dickens and Dumas to Kipling and Verne ([9], [10], [11], [12]).
- To be sure, it is a scandalous way of travelling, for a great gentleman like you to walk afoot.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding - Governor Winthrop, after a journey afoot from Boston, drank here out of the hollow of his hand.
— from Twice-told tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne - It is good to go afoot when one is tired of riding.
— from A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs - “My dear fellow,” said Athos, “I ride horses when I have any; when I have none, I go afoot.”
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Here we have, then, one condition which the ideal must fulfil: it must be a resultant or synthesis of impulses already afoot.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - "There's something serious afoot," Conseil said, "and it bodes well."
— from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne - Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - the Count has been to him, and there is some new scheme of terror afoot!
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - "I shall go afoot," said Phileas Fogg.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne - I would have travelled a hundred miles afoot, through mud, mire, and darkness, to hear this news just at this time.’
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - “I wonder what is afoot between them,” said Chichikov to himself.
— from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol - It is quite on the cards that we may be afoot to-night again.
— from The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
