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
... there by a pool in the stream . There is magic in it . Let the most absent - minded of men be plunged in his deepest rev- eries — stand that man on his legs , set his feet a - going , and he will infallibly lead you to water , if water ...
... there by a pool in the stream . There is magic in it . Let the most absent - minded of men be plunged in his deepest rev- eries — stand that man on his legs , set his feet a - going , and he will infallibly lead you to water , if water ...
Page 9
... there is not a drop of water there ! Were Nia- gara but a cataract of sand , would you travel your thousand miles to see it ? Why did the poor poet of Tennessee , upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver , deliberate whether to ...
... there is not a drop of water there ! Were Nia- gara but a cataract of sand , would you travel your thousand miles to see it ? Why did the poor poet of Tennessee , upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver , deliberate whether to ...
Page 13
... there . Further on , from the bright red win- dows of the " Sword - Fish Inn , " there came such fervent rays , that it seemed to have melted the packed snow and ice from before the house , for everywhere else the congealed frost lay ...
... there . Further on , from the bright red win- dows of the " Sword - Fish Inn , " there came such fervent rays , that it seemed to have melted the packed snow and ice from before the house , for everywhere else the congealed frost lay ...
Page 15
... there . But it's too late to make any improve- ments now . The universe is finished ; the copestone is on , and the chips were carted off a million years ago . Poor Lazarus there , chattering his teeth against the curbstone for his ...
... there . But it's too late to make any improve- ments now . The universe is finished ; the copestone is on , and the chips were carted off a million years ago . Poor Lazarus there , chattering his teeth against the curbstone for his ...
Page 22
... there's no telling . But though the other boarders kept coming in by ones , twos , and threes , and going to bed ... there too many heads in the world ? " " I tell you what it is , landlord , " said I quite calmly , " you'd better stop ...
... there's no telling . But though the other boarders kept coming in by ones , twos , and threes , and going to bed ... there too many heads in the world ? " " I tell you what it is , landlord , " said I quite calmly , " you'd better stop ...
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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.