The Daily Dick: Musing in a Time of Angst
From "The Ship" “How now in the contemplative evening of his days, the pious Bildad reconciled these things in the reminiscence, I do not know; but it did not seem to concern him much, and very probably he had long since come to the sage and sensible conclusion that a man’s religion is one thing, and this practical world quite another. This world pays dividends.” Musing: In this section, Ishmael is searching for a ship to sail on. He heads to the Pequod and meets the two owne
The Daily Dick: Musing in a Time of Angst
The Nightgown “Because truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.” Musing: I find myself attracted to these lines, especially in winter. I am always thankful for the cold, the time inside reading in front of a Netflix fireplace or hiking in mittens and double socks. Without understanding the cold, I could never appreciate summers in South Texas wh
The Daily Dick: Musing in a Time of Angst
From The Sermon: "I leave eternity to Thee; for what is man that he should live out the lifetime of his God?" Musing: Father Mapple again. I always jump when I read this line in Moby-Dick. How can we humans believe we are anything other than mortal, Mapple seems to say. It is a clear warning to men like Ahab, who believes he is a god over his ship/life. I always wonder about the chicken and the egg when I read Robert Browning and Melville. In 1855 Robert Browning wrote "Andre
The Daily Dick: Musing in a Time of Angst
From The Pulpit "Father Mapple was in the hardy winter of a healthy old age; that sort of old age which seems merging into a second flowering youth, for among all the fissures of his wrinkles, there shone certain mild gleams of a newly developing bloom—the spring verdure peeping forth even beneath February’s snow." Musing: I am rereading Moby-Dick sequentially, today I happened to read "The Pulpit." Ah Father Mapple. I can see Gregory Peck with his black eyebrows, white hair
The Daily Dick: Musing in a Time of Angst
From The Chapel "How it is that we still refuse to be comforted for those who we nevertheless maintain are dwelling in unspeakable bliss; why all the living so strive to hush all the dead; wherefore but the rumor of a knocking in a tomb will terrify a whole city. All these things are not without their meanings. But Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope." Musing: Sometimes I read Melville and have to stop t
The Daily Dick: Musing in a Time of Angst
From The Spouter-Inn "What’s all this fuss I have been making about, thought I to myself—the man’s a human being just as I am: he has just as much reason to fear me, as I have to be afraid of him. Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." Musing: I think this is one of my all time favorite passages from Moby-Dick. The whole scene where Ishmael is waiting for Queequeg, the cannibal, to enter a room where they will share a bed, must have been astonishing bac
The Daily Dick: Musing in a Time of Angst
From The Spouter-Inn "Projecting from the further angle of the room stands a dark-looking den—the bar—a rude attempt at a right whale’s head. Be that how it may, there stands the vast arched bone of the whale’s jaw, so wide, a coach might almost drive beneath it. Within are shabby shelves, ranged round with old decanters, bottles, flasks; and in those jaws of swift destruction, like another cursed Jonah (by which name indeed they called him), bustles a little withered old man
The Daily Dick: Musing in a Time of Angst
From Loomings: "I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts. Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror, and could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one lodges in." Musings: It's that time of year when I reread Moby-Dick. This is probably the 8th full reading I have taken as a thru-reader and I still
