Moby DickA literary classic that wasn't recognized for its merits until decades after its publication, Herman Melville's Moby-Dick tells the tale of a whaling ship and its crew, who are carried progressively further out to sea by the fiery Captain Ahab. Obsessed with killing the massive whale, which had previously bitten off Ahab's leg, the seasoned seafarer steers his ship to confront the creature, while the rest of the shipmates, including the young narrator, Ishmael, and the harpoon expert, Queequeg, must contend with their increasingly dire journey. The book invariably lands on any short list of the greatest American novels. |
From inside the book
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Page 14
... faces turned round in their rows to peer ; and beyond , a black Angel of Doom was beating a book in a pulpit . It was a negro church ; and the preacher's text was about the blackness of darkness , and the weeping and wailing and teeth ...
... faces turned round in their rows to peer ; and beyond , a black Angel of Doom was beating a book in a pulpit . It was a negro church ; and the preacher's text was about the blackness of darkness , and the weeping and wailing and teeth ...
Page 20
... face , yet upon the whole he refrained from making as much noise as the rest . This man interested me at once ; and since the sea - gods had ordained that he should soon become my shipmate ( though but a sleeping - partner one , so far ...
... face , yet upon the whole he refrained from making as much noise as the rest . This man interested me at once ; and since the sea - gods had ordained that he should soon become my shipmate ( though but a sleeping - partner one , so far ...
Page 25
... face , but he kept it averted for some time while employed in unlacing the bag's mouth . This accomplished , however , he turned round —when , good heavens ! what a sight ! Such a face ! It was of a dark , purplish , yellow color , here ...
... face , but he kept it averted for some time while employed in unlacing the bag's mouth . This accomplished , however , he turned round —when , good heavens ! what a sight ! Such a face ! It was of a dark , purplish , yellow color , here ...
Page 27
... face ; his back , too , was all over the same dark squares ; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years ' War , and just es- caped from it with a sticking - plaster shirt . Still more , his very legs were marked , as if a parcel of dark ...
... face ; his back , too , was all over the same dark squares ; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years ' War , and just es- caped from it with a sticking - plaster shirt . Still more , his very legs were marked , as if a parcel of dark ...
Page 28
... face twitched about in the most unnatural man- At last extinguishing the fire , he took the idol up very unceremoniously , and bagged it again in his grego pocket as carelessly as if he were a sportsman bagging a dead woodcock . All ...
... face twitched about in the most unnatural man- At last extinguishing the fire , he took the idol up very unceremoniously , and bagged it again in his grego pocket as carelessly as if he were a sportsman bagging a dead woodcock . All ...
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Common terms and phrases
Ahab's aloft beneath Bildad boat boat's bones bows cabin called Cape Horn Captain Ahab Captain Peleg Cetology CHAPTER chase chief mate coffin creature crew cried Ahab Daggoo dark darted dead deck devil doubloon eyes feet fish fishery Flask flukes forecastle Greenland gunwale hand harpoon head heard heart hoisted instant iron Jonah lance Leviathan living look mast mast-head mate Moby Dick Nantucket Narwhal never night oars ocean once Parsee Peleg Pequod poor Porpoise Queequeg Right Whale rolled round sail sailors savage seemed seen sharks ship ship's shipmates side sight sleep soon sort soul Sperm Whale spermaceti spout stand Starbuck Steelkilt stern stood strange Stubb tail Tashtego tell thee there's thing thou thought turned voyage whale-ship whalemen White Whale wild wind
Popular passages
Page 538 - In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Page 541 - To hang their momentary fires Amid the vault of heaven. So, fire with water to compare, The ocean serves, on high Up-spouted by a whale in air, To express unwieldy joy.
Page 7 - Call me Ishmael. Some years ago never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.
Page 540 - Tempest the ocean : there leviathan, Hugest of living creatures, on the deep Stretched like a promontory, sleeps or swims, And seems a moving land ; and at his gills Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea.
Page 539 - For by art is created that great LEVIATHAN called a COMMONWEALTH, or STATE (in Latin, CIVITAS), which is but an artificial man...
Page 54 - I was a good Christian ; born and bred in the bosom of the infallible Presbyterian Church. How then could I unite with this wild idolator in worshipping his piece of wood? But what is worship ? thought I. Do you suppose now, Ishmael that the magnanimous God of heaven and earth — pagans and all included — can possibly be jealous of an insignificant bit of black wood ? Impossible ! But what is worship ? — to do the will of God — that is worship.
Page 169 - I, ISHMAEL, was one of that crew; my shouts had gone up with the rest; my oath had been welded with theirs; and stronger I shouted, and more did I hammer and clinch my oath, because of the dread in my soul. A wild, mystical, sympathetical feeling was in me; Ahab's quenchless feud seemed mine.
Page 295 - Thou saw'st the locked lovers when leaping from their flaming ship ; heart to heart they sank beneath the exulting wave ; true to each other, when heaven seemed false to them. Thou saw'st the murdered mate when tossed by pirates from the midnight deck ; for hours he fell into the deeper midnight of the insatiate maw ; and his murderers still sailed on unharmed — while swift lightnings shivered the neighbouring ship that would have borne a righteous husband to outstretched, longing arms. O head...
Page 43 - With speed he flew to my relief, As on a radiant dolphin borne; Awful, yet bright, as lightning shone The face of my Deliverer God. "My song for ever shall record That terrible, that joyful hour; I give the glory to my God, His all the mercy and the power.
Page 533 - ... and so the bird of heaven, with archangelic shrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, and his whole captive form folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which, like Satan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part of heaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it.