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A Descent Into the Maelstrom
Inspired by the Moskstraumen, it is couched as a story within a story, a tale told at the summit of a mountain climb. The story is told by an old man who reveals that he only appears old – “You suppose me a very old man,” he says, “but I am not. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves.” The narrator, convinced by the power of the whirlpools he sees in the ocean beyond, is then told of the “old” man’s fishing trip with his two brothers a few years ago.
9 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1841
62 people are currently reading
1355 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,816 books28.4k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 305 reviews
June 16, 2020
3.5 stars. while not particularly creepy, it was interesting and vividly written so that i almost feel like i was living it myself.
March 20, 2018
A fascinating tale of a man's near-death experience in a giant maelstrom or whirlpool at sea.
A man on a ship is being sucked slowly toward a massive whirling pool of water. The bottom equals death and there's no way out. So how does he respond? At first, he gives himself over to his fate. He knows he's doomed. But in a way this is liberating. He "became possessed with the keenest curiosity" about the whirlpool and "positively felt a wish to explore its depths, even at the sacrifice I was going to make." His principal grief? Not his own impending death but rather "that I should never be able to tell my old companions on shore about the mysteries I should see."
But once he slides into the whirlpool itself and begins whirling round and round its sides, getting ever lower to the bottom (and death), his reaction changes. Like in The Pit and the Pendulum, he begins to try to measure his predicament, seeing all "the numerous things that floated in our company" and seeking "amusement in speculating upon the relative velocities of their several descents toward the foam below." He then makes an observation that cylinders seem to descend most slowly, so he lashes himself to a water barrel and dives overboard to save himself.
But he's not just a rational scientist here. What's striking, throughout, is his appreciation not only of the terror of the maelstrom but of it's sublime beauty. The sides of the funnel are "perfectly smooth" and "might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity with which they spun around, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they shot forth, as the rays of the full moon...." And when the rays of the moon do reach the bottom he sees a thick mist "over which there hung a magnificent rainbow...." So he's drawn to this place much like Poe's narrators elsewhere are drawn to death: there's a fascination and even a beauty amid the horror that Poe is always keenly attuned to and that serves to elevate many of his tales.
A man on a ship is being sucked slowly toward a massive whirling pool of water. The bottom equals death and there's no way out. So how does he respond? At first, he gives himself over to his fate. He knows he's doomed. But in a way this is liberating. He "became possessed with the keenest curiosity" about the whirlpool and "positively felt a wish to explore its depths, even at the sacrifice I was going to make." His principal grief? Not his own impending death but rather "that I should never be able to tell my old companions on shore about the mysteries I should see."
But once he slides into the whirlpool itself and begins whirling round and round its sides, getting ever lower to the bottom (and death), his reaction changes. Like in The Pit and the Pendulum, he begins to try to measure his predicament, seeing all "the numerous things that floated in our company" and seeking "amusement in speculating upon the relative velocities of their several descents toward the foam below." He then makes an observation that cylinders seem to descend most slowly, so he lashes himself to a water barrel and dives overboard to save himself.
But he's not just a rational scientist here. What's striking, throughout, is his appreciation not only of the terror of the maelstrom but of it's sublime beauty. The sides of the funnel are "perfectly smooth" and "might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity with which they spun around, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they shot forth, as the rays of the full moon...." And when the rays of the moon do reach the bottom he sees a thick mist "over which there hung a magnificent rainbow...." So he's drawn to this place much like Poe's narrators elsewhere are drawn to death: there's a fascination and even a beauty amid the horror that Poe is always keenly attuned to and that serves to elevate many of his tales.
February 18, 2022
Magnífico.
La descripción perfecta de un gran remolino marítimo en la costa noruega que se lo traga todo a su paso.
Me ha recordado a un pasadizo hacia el infierno. El Maelstrom.
Magnificent.
The perfect description of a large swirl of sea on the Norwegian coast that swallows everything in its path.
It reminded me of a passageway to hell.The Maelstrom.
La descripción perfecta de un gran remolino marítimo en la costa noruega que se lo traga todo a su paso.
Me ha recordado a un pasadizo hacia el infierno. El Maelstrom.
Magnificent.
The perfect description of a large swirl of sea on the Norwegian coast that swallows everything in its path.
It reminded me of a passageway to hell.The Maelstrom.
August 1, 2019
A supposedly old man tells his story of getting into the whirlpool of the Moskoe-stroem while on a fishing trip with his brothers. The description is absolutely brilliant. You really see and hear the fellows drawn into the eye of the storm and you feel the rage of the elements. This certainly is the best depiction of a natural phenomenon I read. Absolutely recommended! Brilliant story!
November 1, 2020
65% of this edition is the story; the last 35% displays the covers of, as they disrespectfully call it, "Other Stuff By Poe."
January 16, 2023
This is a well-known story by Poe. It is considered by some critics to be a science fiction tale based upon an actual maelstrom off the coast of Norway in the Lofoten Islands. Its name in Norse is Moskstraumen or Moske-stroom. Rather than one huge whirlpool as described in Poe's story, it is actually a system of whirlpools, currents and cross currents. It is recognized as the second most powerful whirlpool in the world.
Poe's story is tense but the drama is lessened by the fact that the fisherman obviously survived as he is relating the tale. If one is interested in the natural phenomena of the sea and in other things nautical, this is a good story. For others perhaps not as good.
Poe's story is tense but the drama is lessened by the fact that the fisherman obviously survived as he is relating the tale. If one is interested in the natural phenomena of the sea and in other things nautical, this is a good story. For others perhaps not as good.
July 4, 2022
(2.5)
”But in the next moment I cursed myself for being so great a fool as to dream of hope at all”.
Soy una gran fanática de los relatos de Poe, pero este ha sido uno de mis menos favoritos. Aquí nos encontramos con dos hombres que están hablando en la cima de una montaña cuando de repente el clima cambia y el mayor de ellos empieza a contar la historia de cómo sobrevivió a un naufragio y al temido Maelström, un remolino salvaje en medio del mar y que es capaz de tragarse todo lo que se acerca a él.
La verdad es que, a pesar de que no es un gran relato ni aterrador en lo más mínimo, la manera en la que Poe narra la historia de este hombre sí te engancha y hace que quieras saber cómo sobrevivió a este peligroso fenómeno. Ahora, tal como termina el relato, quedamos con la duda de si el hombre realmente dijo la verdad o si todo fueron imaginaciones y delirios de un anciano loco.
”But in the next moment I cursed myself for being so great a fool as to dream of hope at all”.
Soy una gran fanática de los relatos de Poe, pero este ha sido uno de mis menos favoritos. Aquí nos encontramos con dos hombres que están hablando en la cima de una montaña cuando de repente el clima cambia y el mayor de ellos empieza a contar la historia de cómo sobrevivió a un naufragio y al temido Maelström, un remolino salvaje en medio del mar y que es capaz de tragarse todo lo que se acerca a él.
La verdad es que, a pesar de que no es un gran relato ni aterrador en lo más mínimo, la manera en la que Poe narra la historia de este hombre sí te engancha y hace que quieras saber cómo sobrevivió a este peligroso fenómeno. Ahora, tal como termina el relato, quedamos con la duda de si el hombre realmente dijo la verdad o si todo fueron imaginaciones y delirios de un anciano loco.
November 11, 2017
'A Descent Into the Maelstrom' tells the story of a brave fisherman and his brother who take the risk of fishing near a gigantic maelstrom in the Norwegian sea, taking home considerably more fish than their fellow fishermen who remain on safer fishing grounds.
One night, a terrible storm plunges their ship right into the mouth of the vortex, meaning certain death for the brothers. The narrator speaks of overcoming his fear of certain death upon seeing the center of the maelstrom and beholding its beauty and inconceivability - seeing it as proof of God's power. Waiting for their boat to shatter on the bottom of the abyss, the narrator catches a glimmer of hope, while his boat and his shell-shocked brother are spiraling downwards to meet their doom.
The narrator lives to tell the tale - even though he has become an old man during those terrible hours, despite being in the in the prime of his years when the descent into the maelstrom happened.
A beautiful and terrifying short story and one of my personal favorites by E.A. Poe!
5 stars!
One night, a terrible storm plunges their ship right into the mouth of the vortex, meaning certain death for the brothers. The narrator speaks of overcoming his fear of certain death upon seeing the center of the maelstrom and beholding its beauty and inconceivability - seeing it as proof of God's power. Waiting for their boat to shatter on the bottom of the abyss, the narrator catches a glimmer of hope, while his boat and his shell-shocked brother are spiraling downwards to meet their doom.
The narrator lives to tell the tale - even though he has become an old man during those terrible hours, despite being in the in the prime of his years when the descent into the maelstrom happened.
A beautiful and terrifying short story and one of my personal favorites by E.A. Poe!
5 stars!
December 16, 2023
- قصة قصيرة اخرى يرويها بحار ابيض الشعر حصلت له على متن قاربه حيث حاصره الإعصار مع اخيه في عرض البحر ودفعهم الى دوامة عظيمة.
-الدوامة والإعاصير ظاهرتان طبيعيتان في النرويج (مكان القصة) لكن ادغار بو نسج قصة خيالية ومرعبة وطوّر شخصية البحار في ساعات قليلة من يائس الى قدري الى محلل الى عقلاني الى مجرّب وهذا ادّى الى نجاته وموت شقيقه. هذا التطور كان ممتازاً وفي بضع صفحات.
- القصة اسست لقصص لاخقة ارتكزت على قصة بو، وتعد هذه القصة احدى اولى قصص الخيال العلمي.
-الدوامة والإعاصير ظاهرتان طبيعيتان في النرويج (مكان القصة) لكن ادغار بو نسج قصة خيالية ومرعبة وطوّر شخصية البحار في ساعات قليلة من يائس الى قدري الى محلل الى عقلاني الى مجرّب وهذا ادّى الى نجاته وموت شقيقه. هذا التطور كان ممتازاً وفي بضع صفحات.
- القصة اسست لقصص لاخقة ارتكزت على قصة بو، وتعد هذه القصة احدى اولى قصص الخيال العلمي.
November 9, 2022
4 Stars. Confession time, science fiction is not my thing, instead the unpredictability of real life continues to fascinate in both fiction and non. But this 17 page short story is just before Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," which I am eager to read! Both are part of a 1960, fifteen story collection, "The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales." I'm reading in order so, what the heck! In 1841, "Graham's Magazine" was the first to publish "Maelstrom." It opens at the top of a mountain in Lofoten, a small Norwegian archipelago in the high north Atlantic. From 1,200 metres up Helseggen, the exhausted old man who guided the group to the top points out the ocean view and specifically its surface. In a very few minutes it had gone from choppy, you know the usual, to become a whirlpool of vast proportions with a roar greater than Niagara! The vortex was spinning at incredible speeds. The old man proceeds to tell a story of how he and his brothers while fishing a few years earlier had been caught in it. And how he survived with an application of science. And how they unfortunately didn't. Much better than expected! And very memorable. (September 2020)
July 21, 2017
I have yet to read another writer with the ability to take all my senses into a story and make me live it. Poe is a wonder and an amazement to me. He describes a whirlpool a mile wide, a descent, and an escape. This stressed me out, scared me. Wow. What great skill!
August 1, 2022
When I am reading and a book title is mentioned, I like to check and see if it is a real book. Then if it sounds interesting, I record the title and plan on reading it One Of These Days. Which is how I came across A Descent Into The Maelstrom. In Arthur Clarke's story Maelstrom II (from his collection The Wind from the Sun: Stories of the Space Age) the astronaut main character remembers reading the Poe story. I became curious so here we are.
I had not read Poe since school days and had never read this particular story. Maybe I have fixed memories of Poe, but this story did not seem like any of the ones I had to read in school. Two nameless men are up on a high mountain in Norway, looking out over the precipice at the sea far below. There are a few islands scattered around, and then the reason for the climb up the mountain begins to appear. Between two islands a giant whirlpool regularly forms. It is a mile wide during the full force of its power, and from our vantage point we can see down into the whirling depths of the thing. Excuse me while I back away from the edge, I am feeling a bit dizzy.
Now the story within the story begins. It is told by the white-haired man, and relates his experience with the whirlpool. Obviously he survived, since he is the one telling the tale, but how did he manage to live through what was a terrible experience? Well, observation is the key to everything in life, and there is no better example of it than in this story. I cannot say more.
I remember Poe's work being ridiculously frightening to my overactive young imagination. I suppose if I had read this one years ago I would have reacted differently, but I simply could not get too carried away here. We already know the man survived; and there is a lot of scientific explaining going on when you would expect more sheer terror. The story feels more like a newspaper article rather than a gripping mysterious thriller.
But I do still feel a bit dizzy.
I had not read Poe since school days and had never read this particular story. Maybe I have fixed memories of Poe, but this story did not seem like any of the ones I had to read in school. Two nameless men are up on a high mountain in Norway, looking out over the precipice at the sea far below. There are a few islands scattered around, and then the reason for the climb up the mountain begins to appear. Between two islands a giant whirlpool regularly forms. It is a mile wide during the full force of its power, and from our vantage point we can see down into the whirling depths of the thing. Excuse me while I back away from the edge, I am feeling a bit dizzy.
Now the story within the story begins. It is told by the white-haired man, and relates his experience with the whirlpool. Obviously he survived, since he is the one telling the tale, but how did he manage to live through what was a terrible experience? Well, observation is the key to everything in life, and there is no better example of it than in this story. I cannot say more.
I remember Poe's work being ridiculously frightening to my overactive young imagination. I suppose if I had read this one years ago I would have reacted differently, but I simply could not get too carried away here. We already know the man survived; and there is a lot of scientific explaining going on when you would expect more sheer terror. The story feels more like a newspaper article rather than a gripping mysterious thriller.
But I do still feel a bit dizzy.
December 9, 2024
Ships are sucked to destruction down a fearsome ‘maelstrom’. A survivor tells how he went down and was then thrown back up, his dark hair turning white as a result of the experience. An eloquent description of the power of the sea.
December 30, 2018
3,5 *
Um conto bastante bom, que se lê muito rapidamente.
Fez o meu coração bater mais depressa enquanto lia sobre esta aventura de um barco de pesca que se vê apanhado de surpresa no meio de um Maelström (um redemoinho gigantesco no mar). Muito interessante, mas queria mais. Queria um pouco mais de tudo... soube a pouco :).
Para os interessados em ficção científica encontrarão aqui esse género numa das suas primeiras formas. A história é, para além da aventura dos pescadores, a exploração científica de um fenómeno natural "misterioso" e "aterrador". Poe constrói e embeleza a história com os conhecimentos científicos existentes na altura. Um visionário, tal como Jules Verne :). Leiam se têm interesse nestes temas, não se arrependerão.
nota: não li esta edição, mas a mesma tradução do conto numa colectânea de contos do autor. Mas escrevo aqui para poder fazer uma opinião à parte dos outros contos :)
Um conto bastante bom, que se lê muito rapidamente.
Fez o meu coração bater mais depressa enquanto lia sobre esta aventura de um barco de pesca que se vê apanhado de surpresa no meio de um Maelström (um redemoinho gigantesco no mar). Muito interessante, mas queria mais. Queria um pouco mais de tudo... soube a pouco :).
Para os interessados em ficção científica encontrarão aqui esse género numa das suas primeiras formas. A história é, para além da aventura dos pescadores, a exploração científica de um fenómeno natural "misterioso" e "aterrador". Poe constrói e embeleza a história com os conhecimentos científicos existentes na altura. Um visionário, tal como Jules Verne :). Leiam se têm interesse nestes temas, não se arrependerão.
nota: não li esta edição, mas a mesma tradução do conto numa colectânea de contos do autor. Mas escrevo aqui para poder fazer uma opinião à parte dos outros contos :)
April 3, 2018
The Maelstrom is a vortex of water off the coast of Norway that whirls and drags objects to the rocky bottom of the sea. When a fishing boat encounters a hurricane it gets thrown off course into the area of the Maelstrom. Poe's short story is exciting and suspenseful as the fisherman tries to save himself from certain death from this violent force of nature.
May 26, 2015
This is why I'm afraid of traveling by sea. Thank you very much for reminding me, Poe.
P.S.: Poe should still be alive writing more stories.
P.S.: Poe should still be alive writing more stories.
October 9, 2020
Poe siempre se caracterizó por poner todo de sí en la creación y realización de sus cuentos.
Como en todo proceso creativo, los resultados son disímiles.
Creo que la carga de dramatismo en este cuento estuvo bien lograda.
Fue un autor interesado en historias de mar ya que además de este cuento escribió "Manuscrito hallado en una botella", lo que le significó ganar un premio en dinero por primera vez en su vida, que además, era de una total pobreza e indigencia.
Otro caso emblemático fue el de "La Narrativa de Arthur Gordon Pym", su única novela, en la que quizo incluir absolutamente todos los componentes que usaba en sus cuentos. Pero falló. Incluso él mismo lo reconoce.
"Un descenso al Maelström" es un claro ejemplo de cómo jugar con el terror para transformarlo en una adictiva lectura. El cuento posee la vertiginosidad que el mismo Maelström le imprime a las aguas de ese bergantín condenado al naufragio más estrepitoso.
Como en todo proceso creativo, los resultados son disímiles.
Creo que la carga de dramatismo en este cuento estuvo bien lograda.
Fue un autor interesado en historias de mar ya que además de este cuento escribió "Manuscrito hallado en una botella", lo que le significó ganar un premio en dinero por primera vez en su vida, que además, era de una total pobreza e indigencia.
Otro caso emblemático fue el de "La Narrativa de Arthur Gordon Pym", su única novela, en la que quizo incluir absolutamente todos los componentes que usaba en sus cuentos. Pero falló. Incluso él mismo lo reconoce.
"Un descenso al Maelström" es un claro ejemplo de cómo jugar con el terror para transformarlo en una adictiva lectura. El cuento posee la vertiginosidad que el mismo Maelström le imprime a las aguas de ese bergantín condenado al naufragio más estrepitoso.
December 1, 2019
Sentí como si yo estuviese dentro de ese huracán!
Increíble.
Increíble.
May 27, 2022
An old looking man tells the story of how he survived when the fishing boat he was in with his brother enters the maelstrom. Very descriptive but the story within a story doesn’t quite work.
August 23, 2017
It's been several years since I read this but I remember it felt flat: Poe simply tells a story and makes no effort to up the terror or to create tension. Perhaps that was his experimental way to create an unusual type of "horror" story. I'd say this is for Poe's fans only.
May 21, 2022
It was my first experience with the writer Edgar Allan Poe,
I tried to listen the book in Arabic, but I could not fit in with the story, So I tried listening it in its English language, and the result was much better.
.
The events of the short story revolve around the suffering of the sailors at that time, and how they risked their lives every day for living.
Between the angry waves of the sea, and the frightening storm, a survivor tells us the details of his horrific story and how he managed to escape from it.
.
The story is simple, and ordinary, but if you take the idea and apply it to your daily life, you will find it great.
We always try to study every step of the day, decide everything and try to avoid every possible mistake.
But sometimes you just can't stay on the safe line all the time.
You should jump into the hobby, risk everything you have to earn a better life.
Because if you stay where you are, waiting for everything to change as you want without risking, you will make sure that you missed the perfect opportunity to live the life you deserve and which you have been waiting for your whole life.
I tried to listen the book in Arabic, but I could not fit in with the story, So I tried listening it in its English language, and the result was much better.
.
The events of the short story revolve around the suffering of the sailors at that time, and how they risked their lives every day for living.
Between the angry waves of the sea, and the frightening storm, a survivor tells us the details of his horrific story and how he managed to escape from it.
.
The story is simple, and ordinary, but if you take the idea and apply it to your daily life, you will find it great.
We always try to study every step of the day, decide everything and try to avoid every possible mistake.
But sometimes you just can't stay on the safe line all the time.
You should jump into the hobby, risk everything you have to earn a better life.
Because if you stay where you are, waiting for everything to change as you want without risking, you will make sure that you missed the perfect opportunity to live the life you deserve and which you have been waiting for your whole life.
January 19, 2014
I woke up this morning eager to do nothing but to celebrate the birthday of a man who loved with a love that was more than love. Everything was in its place but my own mind as it tried hard to wander the streets of Boston in its desperate attempt to figure out a way to celebrate this man's literary genius. It was until today's afternoon that I found out that I do not only own a copy of Poe's most tales, but that I also already have started reading one of his less appreciated not-so-short-stories. Of course, all I could think of then is to finish reading A Descent into the Maelstrom, which I have started reading almost two weeks ago.
Although Poe's choice of a frame structure may seem unreasonable and quite confusing, this doesn't make of the story any less understandable nor relishable. A Descent into the Maelstrom is a character's account of how he escaped death and how filled with terror and horror he was during that experience. For that, he is but an admirable figure for his genius combination of wit, intelligence and bravery. It is the story of q man who rode his ship towards his certain death. Accepting his fate as inevitable, he then reasons that if all of his life is sure to crumble before his very eyes, he can at least look forward to discovering the "undiscovered country " to be the first traveler who'd irrupt its bourn. It is in the very moment when he encountered death that he realized that for knowledge, even the encounter of death is manageable.
This is one of those stories that make you think about a lot of things ranging from death to forbidden knowledge. So, you just go for a walk hoping that things will become much clearer when you get back home but-in fact- they don't. Does life become more definite and decipherable as we keep on living?
Although Poe's choice of a frame structure may seem unreasonable and quite confusing, this doesn't make of the story any less understandable nor relishable. A Descent into the Maelstrom is a character's account of how he escaped death and how filled with terror and horror he was during that experience. For that, he is but an admirable figure for his genius combination of wit, intelligence and bravery. It is the story of q man who rode his ship towards his certain death. Accepting his fate as inevitable, he then reasons that if all of his life is sure to crumble before his very eyes, he can at least look forward to discovering the "undiscovered country " to be the first traveler who'd irrupt its bourn. It is in the very moment when he encountered death that he realized that for knowledge, even the encounter of death is manageable.
This is one of those stories that make you think about a lot of things ranging from death to forbidden knowledge. So, you just go for a walk hoping that things will become much clearer when you get back home but-in fact- they don't. Does life become more definite and decipherable as we keep on living?
November 3, 2015
I have arranged my thoughts into a haiku:
"Merciless whirling.
One's wits, one's greatest asset,
Battling terror."
"Merciless whirling.
One's wits, one's greatest asset,
Battling terror."
August 1, 2025
It’s swirling and briny with the watery vortex of terror, physics and unexpected optimism.
🌀🌀🌀
We meet a grizzled old man who once tangoed with nature’s most terrifying dance partner- a colossal Norwegian maelstrom. Through flashback, he recounts how he survived the ocean's blender using brains over brawn—and a keen eye for barrel buoyancy.
🚢🚢🚢
This wasn’t an average shipwreck story. It's a scientific observation in poetic tension... like a professor whispering horror stories between physics lectures. Poe creates suspense with a surprising twist- hope survives... even when the ship doesn't.
🌀🌀🌀
We meet a grizzled old man who once tangoed with nature’s most terrifying dance partner- a colossal Norwegian maelstrom. Through flashback, he recounts how he survived the ocean's blender using brains over brawn—and a keen eye for barrel buoyancy.
🚢🚢🚢
This wasn’t an average shipwreck story. It's a scientific observation in poetic tension... like a professor whispering horror stories between physics lectures. Poe creates suspense with a surprising twist- hope survives... even when the ship doesn't.
June 9, 2019
Another twisted Poe tale.
July 22, 2025
I’ve read so many of the Poe collection but surprisingly have never gotten to this one until recently. It was very interesting to read one of Poe’s short stories that is outside of the strictly “horror” or “suspense” variety, although one could make the case that this one has elements of both definitely.
This almost feels more like science fiction, or science fiction fantasy to me, not only in how it is presented in point of view, but also how the key scenes and moments are depicted in the tale.
I think one of the more prominent and fascinating aspects is simply how the story is told, that is the perspective of the “old” man who tells the story via a sort of “tale within a tale” framework. This not only gives the story a more personal perspective but also gives the details so much more life. There is a distinctive vitality in how he brings the story to us via telling the young man about his experiences while in so much peril.
And the imagery is so illustrative and vivid from the get go, especially the description of Nature (who becomes a character in the tale as well):
“To the right and left , as far as the eye could reach, there lay outstretched, like ramparts of the world, lines of horribly black and bleating cliff, whose character of gloom was but the more forcible illustrated by the surf which reared up against it its white and ghastly crest, howling and shrieking for ever.”
I also loved how there is the element of Man vs. Nature present and how there is so much vividness to the moments as the man proceeds further with his narrative.
And, as usual, Poe brings so much to the story in terms of symbolism and themes such as survival and the elements of Nature. Readers can draw their own meanings for several developments that happen as to what they represent or symbolize.
I read that Poe wasn’t too happy with this ending, and I would agree with that. There is something that is very abrupt about the ending. I was waiting and hoping for a little more in terms of explanation or thought, but the story just literally ends.
Anyhow, this tale is still an impressive read, with a lot to think about, very descriptive and vivid in the reader’s mind. One that a Poe fan would probably enjoy, especially if they like some of his more obscure works.
This almost feels more like science fiction, or science fiction fantasy to me, not only in how it is presented in point of view, but also how the key scenes and moments are depicted in the tale.
I think one of the more prominent and fascinating aspects is simply how the story is told, that is the perspective of the “old” man who tells the story via a sort of “tale within a tale” framework. This not only gives the story a more personal perspective but also gives the details so much more life. There is a distinctive vitality in how he brings the story to us via telling the young man about his experiences while in so much peril.
And the imagery is so illustrative and vivid from the get go, especially the description of Nature (who becomes a character in the tale as well):
“To the right and left , as far as the eye could reach, there lay outstretched, like ramparts of the world, lines of horribly black and bleating cliff, whose character of gloom was but the more forcible illustrated by the surf which reared up against it its white and ghastly crest, howling and shrieking for ever.”
I also loved how there is the element of Man vs. Nature present and how there is so much vividness to the moments as the man proceeds further with his narrative.
And, as usual, Poe brings so much to the story in terms of symbolism and themes such as survival and the elements of Nature. Readers can draw their own meanings for several developments that happen as to what they represent or symbolize.
I read that Poe wasn’t too happy with this ending, and I would agree with that. There is something that is very abrupt about the ending. I was waiting and hoping for a little more in terms of explanation or thought, but the story just literally ends.
Anyhow, this tale is still an impressive read, with a lot to think about, very descriptive and vivid in the reader’s mind. One that a Poe fan would probably enjoy, especially if they like some of his more obscure works.
November 3, 2020
rock you like a hurricane
July 20, 2023
An awesome tale about a man who survives an encounter with the terrible Maelström. I really dug (yeah, I'm using that word) Poe's inclusion of physics near the end of the story. A Descent into the Maelström is one of his least known and most underrated tales, and I probably wouldn't have read it if I weren't such a big fan of his works.
September 10, 2020
The old fisherman once he calms his fear uses his observations and logic to save his own life. Actions that would make C. Auguste Dupin and Mr Spock proud. Excellent descriptive writing so much so I could almost taste, smell and hear the sounds of the sea.
August 24, 2017
Tianming's Fairy Tales from Death's End bought me here.
In this proto science fiction story, Poe's Narrator recalls his miraculous escape from a whirlpool(Moskstraumen), with chilling accounts of terror and helplessness against natural forces. But instead of succumbing to the morbidness, narrator tries to make sense of the danger he is in, with reason, hence the sci fi / math fi categorization. Readers do have the usual incentive and freedom to consider this as a horror story in conventional sense, or to question the reliability of narration, with its prevailing story inside a story structure.
Poe even star notes an Archimedian work (obviously fake), as his reference for floating body dynamics in fluid vortex. Still, I somehow kept expecting weird supernatural or unknown horror from Nordland, till the last word, like in Algernon's Willows of Danube.
In this proto science fiction story, Poe's Narrator recalls his miraculous escape from a whirlpool(Moskstraumen), with chilling accounts of terror and helplessness against natural forces. But instead of succumbing to the morbidness, narrator tries to make sense of the danger he is in, with reason, hence the sci fi / math fi categorization. Readers do have the usual incentive and freedom to consider this as a horror story in conventional sense, or to question the reliability of narration, with its prevailing story inside a story structure.
Poe even star notes an Archimedian work (obviously fake), as his reference for floating body dynamics in fluid vortex. Still, I somehow kept expecting weird supernatural or unknown horror from Nordland, till the last word, like in Algernon's Willows of Danube.
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