elstaffe > Recent Status Updates

"And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar." (405) but what if the gorge is deeper

"... so that the precious gold seems almost to derive an added preciousness and enhancing glories, by passing through those fancy mints, so Spanishly poetic." (410) SPANISHLY

"The sun hides not the ocean, which is the dark side of this earth, and which is two thirds of this earth. So, therefore, that mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that mortal man cannot be true—not true, or undeveloped." (405) ah yes, the evergreen lie of cynicism/depression that if you're not pessimistic you must be a naive provincial and that true sophisticates see the world as grimdark

"Not the wondrous cistern in the whale's huge head; not the prodigy of his unhinged lower jaw; not the miracle of his symmetrical tail; none of these would so surprise you, as half a glimpse of that unaccountable cone,— longer than a Kentuckian is tall, nigh a foot in diameter at the base ... And an idol, indeed, it is; or, rather, in old times, its likeness was." (400) can't believe p400 is the first whale penis

"Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever!" (398)

PERHAPS INDIRECTLY HINTED

"'Stick to the boat, Pip, or by the Lord, I won't pick you up if you jump; mind that. We can't afford to lose whales by the likes of you; a whale would sell for thirty times what you would, Pip, in Alabama. Bear that in mind, and don't jump any more.' Hereby perhaps Stubb indirectly hinted, that though man loved his fellow, yet man is a money-making animal, which propensity too often interferes with his benevolence."

"...a tribe, which ever enjoy all holidays and festivities with finer, freer relish than any other race. For blacks, the year's calendar should show naught but three hundred and sixty-five Fourth of Julys and New Year's days." (394)

"But while hapless Dough-Boy was by nature dull and torpid in his intellects, Pip, though over tender-hearted, was at bottom very bright, with that pleasant, genial, jolly brightness peculiar to his tribe;" (393-394) oh no

"As a general thing, these ship-keepers are as hardy fellows as the men comprising the boats' crews.
But if there happen to be an unduly slender, clumsy, or timorous wight in the ship, that wight is certain to be made a ship-keeper." (393) unduly slender wight

"The truth is, that living or dead, if but decently treated, whales as a species are by no means creatures of ill odor; nor can whalemen be recognised, as the people of the middle ages affected to detect a Jew in the company, by the nose." (393) which anti-Semitism was it? due to odor or physiognomy? Or both? Probably both.

"Post-1950s conditions in the consuming West have changed the relation of many infants to scarcity and need: death does not bear them away as it did—thankfully, though poverty and all its attendant ills (which include junk food) still bedevil many families in most prosperous and stable societies, including Britain and the United States." (146) ah yes, poverty definitely causes *checks notes* junk food?

"When overlowing with mutual esteem, the whales salute more hominum. [sic]" (373) that's a lot of euphemism to convey that whales have intercourse belly-to-belly

"...for there is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men." (369)

"...and considering the inexhaustible wealth of spices, and silks, and jewels, and gold, and ivory, with which the thousand islands of that oriental sea are enriched, it seems a significant provision of nature, that such treasures, by the very formation of the land, should at least bear the appearance, however ineffectual, of being guarded from the all-grasping western world." (364)

"Had this tail any prehensile power, I should straightaway bethink me of Darmonodes' elephant that so frequented the flower-market, and with low salutation presented nosegays to damsels, and then caressed their zones." (362) did what to their what now

"Nor does this—its amazing strength, at all tend to cripple the graceful flexion of its motions; where infantileness of ease undulates through a Titanism of power." (360) I pity the AI trained on Melville for punctuation use

"But then there were some sceptical Greeks and Romans, who, standing out from the orthodox pagans of their times, equally doubted the story of Hercules and the whale, and Arion and the dolphin; and yet their doubting those traditions did not make those traditions one whit the less facts, for all that." (351) true. They're the less facts because of lack of evidence, not because of the doubt itself

"...let them never eye a Nantucketer with disdain, since even in our woollen frocks and tarred trowsers we are much better entitled to St. George's decoration than they." (349-350) I know that here "Nantucketer" stands for all whale men but also, sir, you are from Manhattan

"But pity there was none. For all his old age, and his one arm, and his blind eyes, he must die the death and be murdered, in order to light the gay bridals and other merry-makings of men, and also to illuminate the solemn churches that preach unconditional inoffensiveness by all to all." (345)

"...followed by strange subterranean commotions in him, which seemed to have egress at his other buried extremity, causing the waters behind him to upbubble.
'Who's got some paregoric?' said Stubb, "he has the stomach-ache, I'm afraid. Lord, think of having half an acre of stomach-ache! Adverse winds are holding mad Christmas in him, boys. It's the first foul wind I ever knew to blow from astern;'" (339) whale farts.

"If you unload his skull of its spermy heaps and then take a rear view of its rear end, which is the high end, you will be struck by its resemblance to the human skull, beheld in the same situation, and from the same point of view." (336) that's not what I'm being struck by right now, Melville

"Now, while Macey, the mate, was standing up in his boat's bow, and with all the reckless energy of his tribe was venting his wild exclamations upon the whale," (307) spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out if tribe was literal or metaphorical (as in his membership in the class of mates) and I still can't decide

"...ambitious comic carnival drama: a series of adventures with animated effigies—including a giant fourteen-foot Guy, a Rastafarian singer, a game host, and some enormous snails racing in a snail race." (111) as is...traditional?

"In the village of Sticklepath in Devon," (110) STICKLEPATH

"'Cock Lorrel's Treat' was printed in Thomas Percy's first edition of Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, but it was removed by the book's learned (and Anglican) editor after the Duchess of Northumberland became his patron and he assumed it might offend her.
The title refers to a satire that Wynkyn de Worde printed," (395) wait that was the name of a printer???

"He was a small, short, youngish man, sprinkled all over his face with freckles, and wearing redundant yellow hair." (304) redundant to...

"That mortal man should feed upon the creature that feeds his lamp and, like Stubb, eat him by his own light, as you may say; this seems so outlandish a thing that one must needs go a little into the history and philosophy of it." (291) no, one mustn't needs, one really need not

"'Wish, by Gor! whale eat him, 'stead of him eat whale. I'm bressed if he ain't more of shark dan Massa Shark hisself,' muttered the old man, limping away; with which sage ejaculation he went to his hammock." (291) one day I'm going to write out a phonetic version of received standard Midwestern US pronunciation but only for a comical white character

"'Fellow-critters: I'se ordered here to say dat you must stop dạt dam noise dare. You hear? Stop dat dam smackin' ob de lip! Massa Stubb say dat you can fill your dam bellies up to de hatchings, but by Gor! you must stop dat dam racket!'" (288) oh BOY