Literary notes about perform (AI summary)
In literature, the term perform is a multifaceted word that ranges from the execution of everyday duties to the enacting of profound rituals and heroic deeds. It is often used to stress the actual carrying out of a responsibility, as when a character is seen as incapable of fulfilling maternal obligations ([1]) or when the fulfillment of a duty is portrayed as essential to one’s honor ([2]). In dramatic contexts, it highlights the calculated representation of a role, inviting an interpretation that goes beyond mere action ([3], [4]). Moreover, perform is applied in more abstract or ritualistic arenas, where it signifies the execution of sacred rites or pivotal acts—whether in religious ceremonies ([5], [6], [7]) or in the pursuit of a grand purpose ([8]). Thus, through its varied usage, the word encapsulates the spectrum from practical expediency to the embodiment of deeper symbolic significance.
- Perhaps, I often think, she was too angelically innocent to have the strength to perform all a mother’s duties.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - “Certainly, but we resist these desires because we have duties to perform, which would rise up against us if we left them undone.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - In Acting, barely to perform the Part is not commendable, but to be the least out is contemptible.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele - yet I did Would I perform, if I might have my will.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Ἱερουργέω, ῶ, ἱερός & ἔργον ) f. ήσω, to officiate as priest, perform sacred rites; in N.T., to minister in a divine commission, Ro. 15.16.
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield - Therefore, O great king, let thy resolution be taken to perform this sacrifice without further discussion.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - The Taoist priests were summoned by edict to the palace to perform their rites.
— from Myths and Legends of China by E. T. C. Werner - In fact it is doubtful whether a man can perform very great service to mankind who is not permeated with a great purpose—with an overmastering idea.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden