Its worth noting, too, that he goes on to observe that his attempts to guess which object will next be pulled into the whirlpools currents all prove to be wrong: At length, after making several guesses of this nature, and being deceived in all this fact the fact of my invariable miscalculation, set me upon a train of reflection that made my limbs again tremble, and my heart beat heavily once more. Mans attempt at understanding and second-guessing nature has failed. It may look like boasting but what I tell you is truth I began to reflect how magnificent a thing it was to die in such a manner, and how foolish it was in me to think of so paltry a consideration as my own individual life, in view of so wonderful a manifestation of Gods power. The barrel to which I was attached sunk very little farther than half the distance between the bottom of the gulf and the spot at which I leaped overboard, before a great change took place in the character of the whirlpool. It appeared to grow upon me as I drew nearer and nearer to my dreadful doom. 'To be sure,' I thought, 'we shall get there just about the slack -- there is some little hope in that' -- but in the next moment I cursed myself for being so great a fool as to dream of hope at all. For my part, as soon as I had let the foresail run, I threw myself flat on deck, with my feet against the narrow gunwale of the bow, and with my hands grasping a ring-bolt near the foot of the fore-mast. "We set out with a fresh wind on our starboard quarter, and for some time spanked along at a great rate, never dreaming of danger, for indeed we saw not the slightest reason to apprehend it. It had a complete flush deck, with only a small hatch near the bow, and this hatch it had always been our custom to batten down when about to cross the Strm, by way of precaution against the chopping seas. This opinion, idle in itself, was the one to which, as I gazed, my imagination most readily assented ;and, mentioning it to the guide, I was rather surprised to hear him say that, although it was the view almost universally entertained of the subject by the Norwegians, it nevertheless was not his own. "A Descent into the Maelstrm" is an 1841 short story by Edgar Allan Poe. In the tale, a man recounts how he survived a shipwreck and a whirlpool. Everything was in its place but my own mind as it tried hard to wander the streets of Boston in its desperate attempt to figure out a way to celebrate this man's literary genius. contact, home | stories | poetry | timeline | gallery | site map | contact, Copyright 2005-2023 Design215 Inc., All Rights Reserved. As to the former notion he confessed his inability to comprehend it; and here I agreed with him for, however conclusive on paper, it becomes altogether unintelligible, and even absurd, amid the thunder of the abyss. scent di-sent 1 : the act or process of descending from a higher to a lower location descent of the testes into the scrotum 2 a : derivation from an ancestor b : the fact or process of originating by generation from an ancestral stock (as a species or genus) 3 A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poes Hop-Frog Interesting Literature. wordlist The horrific tale is laid out by an old man who reveals that he only appears old - "You suppose me a very old man," he says, "but I am not. I attracted my brothers attention by signs, pointed to the floating barrels that came near us, and did everything in my power to make him understand what I was about to do. But while we were up I had thrown a quick glance around and that one glance was all sufficient. "We are now," he continued, in that particularizing manner which distinguished him -- "we are now close upon the Norwegian coast -- in the sixty-eighth degree of latitude -- in the great province of Nordland -- and in the dreary district of Lofoden. -- lib. It stood like a huge writhing wall between us and the horizon. Scarcely had I secured myself in my new position, when we gave a wild lurch to starboard, and rushed headlong into the abyss. Let us know whats wrong with this preview of, Published This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea -- it being constantly high and low water every six hours. When I find a Poe Im not crazy about, I find my judgement is rather harsh. But A Descent into the Maelstrom is different, because the trouble which descends upon the white-haired man is outside of his control: he is a victim of natures forces at their wildest and most uncontrollable, with his brush with death being the result of natural phenomena rather than some retributive power punishing him for some past crime. How often we made the circuit of the belt it is impossible to say. Nothing would have tempted me to within half a dozen yards of its brink. I now tell it toyou and I can scarcely expect you to put more faith in it than did the merry fishermen of Lofoden., Filed Under: The Poe Museum Blog Tagged With: Poe's Works. The first was, that, as a general rule, the larger the bodies were, the more rapid their descentthe second, that, between two masses of equal extent, the one spherical, and the I now began to watch, with a strange interest, the numerous things that floated in our company. The general burst of terrific grandeur was all that I beheld. I now began to watch, with a strange interest, the numerous things that floated in our company. We kept the smack in a cove about five miles higher up the coast than this; and it was our practice, in fine weather, to take advantage of the fifteen minutes slack to push across the main channel of the Moskoe-strm, far above the pool, and then drop down upon anchorage somewhere near Otterholm, or Sandflesen, where the eddies are not so violent as elsewhere. I did not care, however, to contest the point with him. I still lived. I muttered a hurried prayer to God, and thought all was over. Tim Johnston's newest novel is THE CURRENT (2019, Algonquin). All this time I had never let go of the ring-bolt. Descent TV Movie 2005 PG 1 h 30 m IMDb RATING 3.4 /10 1K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 0:58 1 Video 40 Photos Action Drama Sci-Fi When the Ring of Fire starts heating up with an unprecedented amount of volcanic activity a team of scientists are gathered to prevent a global catastrophe. Many of Edgar Allan Poes tales focus on protagonists who find themselves in trouble because of their own behaviour: so the murderer in The Tell-Tale Heart is driven mad by his own guilt (or, depending on how you read that ambiguous story, by the supernatural beating of his victims heart beneath the floorboards), while the cat-killer in The Black Cat also brings his subsequent haunting and bad luck upon his own head through his cruelty to his pet. The story Poe weaves out We had now been about ten minutes upon the top of Helseggen, to which we had ascended from the interior of Lofoden, so that we had caught no glimpse of the sea until it had burst upon us from the summit. Inspired by the Moskstraumen, tidal eddies and whirlpools in northern Norway which are real, the story is couched as a story within a story, a tale told at the summit of a mountain climb. Whereas his two brothers succumb to the maelstroms alluring energies, the white-haired man manages to resist, as if he is resisting his own deeper libido or drives, in favour of quick-thinking and rational pragmatism. The old man recounts his ordeal that in less than a single day changed his hairs from a jetty black to white, weakened his limbs, and t unstrung his nerves. I have already described the unnatural curiosity which had taken the place of my original terrors. But moment after moment elapsed. I never felt deeper grief than when I saw him attempt this act -- although I knew he was a madman when he did it -- a raving maniac through sheer fright. * See Archimedes, "De Incidentibus in Fluido." We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the Strm was in full fury! All at once we were taken aback by a breeze from over Helseggen. A Descent into the Maelstrom: plot summary, (NB: the storys epigraph, from a seventeenth-century essay by Joseph Glanvill, references the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus, who though truth could be found at the bottom of a well. [CDATA[ A Descent Into the Maelstrom book. In five minutes the whole sea, as far as Vurrgh, was lashed into ungovernable fury ;but it was between Moskoe and the coast that the main uproar held its sway. A panorama more deplorably desolate no human imagination can conceive. Essays & Summaries Quiz for Edgar Allan Poe's short story A Descent into the Maelstrom Tweet Further Reading Related Author Info Related Quizzes Quiz: Edgar Allan Poe 10 Questions Quiz: Edgar Allen Poe: Life and Works Quiz: Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Gold Bug The slope of the sides of the vast funnel became momently less and less steep. The usual grounds are a great way lower down to the southward. timeline | Very descriptive but the story within a story doesnt quite work. The white-haired man managed to prevent his own descent into the Maelstrom by observing how the various objects from the boat were sucked into the whirlpool and eventually grabbing onto a water cask, and escaping the force of the Maelstrom. Of foam there was little except in the immediate vicinity of the rocks. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves." "There was another circumstance which tended to restore my self-possession ;and this was the cessation of the wind, which could not reach us in our present situation -- for, as you saw yourself, the belt of surf is considerably lower than the general bed of the ocean, and this latter now towered above us, a high, black, mountainous ridge. I did not care, however, to contest the point with him. I thought at length that he comprehended my design but, whether this was the case or not, he shook his head despairingly, and refused to move from his station by the ring-bolt. He will survive, but only just and with his hair showing how his narrow escape has prematurely aged him. Well, so far we had ridden the swells very cleverly; but presently a gigantic sea happened to take us right under the counter, and bore us with it as it rose up up as if into the sky. The old man proceeds to tell a story of how he and his brothers while fishing a few years earlier had been caught in it. "Between Lofoden and Moskoe," he says, "the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms ;but on the other side, toward Ver (Vurrgh) this depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel, without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens even in the calmest weather. "There was one startling circumstance which went a great way in enforcing these observations, and rendering me anxious to turn them to account, and this was that, at every revolution, we passed something like a barrel, or else the yard or the mast of a vessel, while many of these things, which had been on our level when I first opened my eyes upon the wonders of the whirlpool, were now high up above us, and seemed to have moved but little from their original station. How my elder brother escaped destruction I cannot say, for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining. I dragged my watch from its fob. The boat made a sharp half turn to larboard, and then shot off in its new direction like a thunderbolt. bookstore | The vortex was spinning at incredible speeds. Start by marking A Descent into the Maelstrom - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story as Want to Read: Error rating book. biography | "We kept the smack in a cove about five miles higher up the coast than this ;and it was our practice, in fine weather, to take advantage of the fifteen minutes' slack to push across the main channel of the Moskoe-strm, far above the pool, and then drop down upon anchorage somewhere near Otterholm, or Sandflesen, where the eddies are not so violent as elsewhere. * Britannica Dictionary definition of DESCENT formal 1 [count] : the act or process of descending: such as a : the act or process of going from a higher to a lower place or level usually singular The climbers were faced with a dangerous descent in bad weather. We cannot be held responsible for delays if you do not use this reference. The oldest seaman in Norway never experienced any thing like it. As it was, I involuntarily closed my eyes in horror. A Descent into the Maelstrm falls into the latter category. by BookSurge Classics. My hair which had been raven-black the day before, was as white as you see it now. The wind sometimes was not as strong as we thought it at starting, and then we made rather less way than we could wish, while the current rendered the smack unmanageable. summaries The story Poe weaves out of this natural phenomenon is highly suggestive, leaving itself open to numerous interpretations. I knew very well that we were doomed, had we been ten times a ninety-gun ship. The gyrations of the whirl grew, gradually, less and less violent. The edge of the whirl was represented by a broad belt of gleaming spray ;but no particle of this slipped into the mouth of the terrific funnel, whose interior, as far as the eye could fathom it, was a smooth, shining, and jet-black wall of water, inclined to the horizon at an angle of some forty-five degrees, speeding dizzily round and round with a swaying and sweltering motion, and sending forth to the winds an appalling voice, half shriek, half roar, such as not even the mighty cataract of Niagara ever lifts up in its agony to Heaven. It was not going. Our progress downward, at each revolution, was slow, but very perceptible. What does the maelstrom represent? A Descent into the Maelstrom (1986) Quotes It looks like we don't have any Quotes for this title yet. Everything was in its place but my own mind as it tried hard to wander the streets of Boston in its desperate attempt to figure out a way to celebrate this man's literary genius. It might have been an hour, or thereabout, after myquitting the smack, when, having descended to a vast distance beneath me, it made three or four wild gyrations in rapid succession, and, bearing my loved brother with it, plunged headlong, at once and forever, into the chaos of foam below. wordlist | I conceived it possible, in either instance, that they might thus be whirled up again to the level of the ocean, without undergoing the fate of those which had been drawn in more early, or absorbed more rapidly. Descent into the Maelstrom and Other Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. It had run down at seven o'clock! And very memorable. I knew what he meant by that one word well enough -- I knew what he wished to make me understand. The Descent 2005 R 1 h 39 m IMDb RATING 7.2 /10 228K YOUR RATING Rate POPULARITY 812 812 Play trailer 2:04 1 Video 99+ Photos Adventure Horror Thriller A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators. For my part, as soon as I had let the foresail run, I threw myself flat on deck, with my feet against the narrow gunwale of the bow, and with my hands grasping a ring-bolt near the foot of the fore-mast. If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. I must have been delirious -- for I even sought amusement in speculating upon the relative velocities of their several descents toward the foam below. Its name in Norse is Moskstraumen or Moske-stroom. It likewise happens frequently, that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence; and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. 3. a passage or stairway leading down. I do believe that I blushed with shame when this idea crossed my mind. With the wind that now drove us on, we were bound for the whirl of the Strm, and nothing could save us! We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the Strm was in full fury! I glanced at its face by the moonlight, and then burst into tears as I flung it far away into the ocean. They trace their line Suddenly very suddenly this assumed a distinct and definite existence, in a circle of more than a mile in diameter. poetry Both above and below us were visible fragments of vessels, large masses of building timber and trunks of trees, with many smaller articles, such as pieces of house furniture, broken boxes, barrels and staves. 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