Literary notes about spurred (AI summary)
Across literary works, "spurred" functions as a dynamic term that embodies both a literal and metaphorical push. In some instances, it vividly depicts the physical act of urging a horse to quicken its pace or change direction, as seen when steeds are given renewed energy to charge into battle or traverse challenging terrains ([1], [2], [3]). In other contexts, "spurred" conveys an inner impulse—an emotional or intellectual drive—propelling characters to act with determination, whether that be motivated by hope, anger, or ambition ([4], [5], [6], [7], [8]). The word, therefore, seamlessly bridges the gap between tangible movement and the abstract forces of passion and resolve, underscoring the diversity in its literary application across epochs and genres ([9], [10], [11], [12]).
- Whilst they spurred their steeds they held their pistols ready also.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - The unknown spurred his horse to a gallop.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - and he spurred his horse and galloped away.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - Every mental faculty is quickened, every power of thought and expression spurred.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - The greater the difficulty the more I felt spurred on to attempt it.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - That was a contingency he had never thought of, and it spurred him to write all the more quickly to her.
— from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy - From a child she made me feel that this was the position she expected me to fill; and her faith spurred me on and gave me the power to attain it.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - The two conditions, then, that prompt others to idleness—leisure and solitude—only spurred him on.
— from De Officiis by Marcus Tullius Cicero - By came a knight That road, who halted, asking, "What's the fright?" They told him, and he spurred straight for the site!
— from Poems by Victor Hugo - But he also was spurred on by a ferocious desire of vengeance.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Then had the sons of the Achaeans taken the lofty gates of Troy if Apollo had not spurred on Agenor, valiant and noble son to Antenor.
— from The Iliad by Homer - For now Caesar Forsook vacillation and, spurred by the love of revenge, sheathed The Gallic sword; brandished the brand that proclaimed civil warfare.
— from The Satyricon — Complete by Petronius Arbiter