“Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feel my topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from all your furthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole foregone life, and top this one piled comber* of my death! Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! Thus, I give up the spear!”
The harpoon was darted; the stricken whale flew forward; with igniting velocity the line ran through the groove; — ran foul. Ahab stooped to clear it; he did clear; but the flying turn caught him round the neck, and voicelessly as Turkish mutes bowstring their victim, he was shot out of the boat, ere the crew knew he was gone. Next instant, the heavy eyesplice in the rope’s final end flew out of the stark-empty tub, knocked down an oarsman, and smiting the sea, disappeared in its depths.
From ‘Moby Dick: or, the Great White Whale’ (1851), by Herman Melville (1819-1891).
* A comber is a long, curling wave of the sea.
Précis
Seizing his harpoon, Ahab cries out that his whole life has been leading to this supreme moment of tragedy and triumph. Then, declaring defiance and everlasting hatred, he looses his weapon and the point strikes home — but as the whale dives, the trailing rope snags. In freeing it Ahab is caught in a loop, and dragged beneath the waves. (59 / 60 words)
Seizing his harpoon, Ahab cries out that his whole life has been leading to this supreme moment of tragedy and triumph. Then, declaring defiance and everlasting hatred, he looses his weapon and the point strikes home — but as the whale dives, the trailing rope snags. In freeing it Ahab is caught in a loop, and dragged beneath the waves.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, if, not, ought, unless, until, whether.
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Tags: Extracts from Literature (601) Herman Melville (1) American Literature (21) Adventures at Sea (3)
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