Literary notes about siege (AI summary)
The term “siege” has been employed in literature in a variety of ways, reflecting both its strict military meaning and its rich metaphorical potential. In historical narratives, authors use the word literally to describe prolonged military operations and the hardships endured during such events, as seen in Livy’s accounts of the Roman campaigns [1, 2, 3] and Thucydides’ detailed recounting of besieged cities [4, 5]. Military treatises by figures like Jomini further exemplify its technical application, outlining tactical considerations and engineering details of siege warfare [6, 7, 8]. Beyond its utilitarian sense, “siege” appears in more figurative contexts: Chesterton’s sardonic reference to communal cat’s-meat during a siege [9] and personal reflections like Wagner’s account of the siege of Warsaw as a personal calamity [10] illustrate how the term evokes feelings of entrapment and enduring struggle. Poets and dramatists, including Shakespeare and Dante, also draw upon the imagery of siege to heighten emotional resonance and underscore themes of conflict and human suffering [11, 12].
- if it was not voluntarily we remained in the Capitol for so many months of siege; if we were retained by the enemy through motives of fear?
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - Already tired out by the slow process of a siege, they retire and spread themselves through the country.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - During the siege of Veii winter dwellings erected for the soldiers.
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - The garrison believed him as he was general, and besides knew nothing of what had occurred owing to the siege, and so evacuated the fort under truce.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides - It was followed by a second, which ordered Athens to raise the siege of Potidaea, and to respect the independence of Aegina.
— from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides - In 1648, the siege of Candia began.
— from The Art of War by baron de Antoine Henri Jomini - Should the first objective point be the possession of an important fort, the siege will be commenced.
— from The Art of War by baron de Antoine Henri Jomini - A formidable army is collected in the Tyrol to raise the siege of Mantua: it commits the error of marching there in two bodies separated by a lake.
— from The Art of War by baron de Antoine Henri Jomini - Perhaps we ought to accept communal kitchens in the social crisis, just as we should accept communal cat’s-meat in a siege.
— from What's Wrong with the World by G. K. Chesterton - I felt the siege and capture of Warsaw as a personal calamity.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner - She will not stay the siege of loving terms Nor bide th’encounter of assailing eyes, Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold:
— from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - [708] were his enemies every man, And none had at the siege of Acre been Or trafficked in the Empire of Soldàn.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
