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 8
... Once more . Say , you are in the country ; in some high land of lakes . Take almost any path you please , and ten to one it carries you down in a dale , and leaves you there by a pool in the stream . There is magic in it . Let the most ...
... Once more . Say , you are in the country ; in some high land of lakes . Take almost any path you please , and ten to one it carries you down in a dale , and leaves you there by a pool in the stream . There is magic in it . Let the most ...
Page 16
... once found out , and all the rest were plain . But stop ; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish ? even the great leviathan himself ? In fact , the artist's design seemed this : a 16 MOBY DICK . III: THE SPOUTER-INN.
... once found out , and all the rest were plain . But stop ; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish ? even the great leviathan himself ? In fact , the artist's design seemed this : a 16 MOBY DICK . III: THE SPOUTER-INN.
Page 17
... once long lance , now wildly elbowed , fifty years ago did Nathan Swain kill fifteen whales between a sunrise and a sunset . And that harpoon — so like a cork . screw now — was flung in Javan seas , and run away with by a whale , years ...
... once long lance , now wildly elbowed , fifty years ago did Nathan Swain kill fifteen whales between a sunrise and a sunset . And that harpoon — so like a cork . screw now — was flung in Javan seas , and run away with by a whale , years ...
Page 20
... once ; and since the sea - gods had ordained that he should soon become my shipmate ( though but a sleeping - partner one , so far as this narrative is concerned ) , I will here venture upon a little description of him . He stood full ...
... once ; and since the sea - gods had ordained that he should soon become my shipmate ( though but a sleeping - partner one , so far as this narrative is concerned ) , I will here venture upon a little description of him . He stood full ...
Page 28
... once that he but ill comprehended my meaning . " Who - e debel you ? " — he at last said " you no speak - e , dam - me , I kill - e . " And so saying the lighted tomahawk began flourishing about me in the dark . " Landlord , for God's ...
... once that he but ill comprehended my meaning . " Who - e debel you ? " — he at last said " you no speak - e , dam - me , I kill - e . " And so saying the lighted tomahawk began flourishing about me in the dark . " Landlord , for God's ...
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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.