Moby Dick

In the chapter, The Chase – Second Day, Melville conceives several literary devices that are quite intriguing.

In the first, on page 534 in the Signet book, Melville writes,

“The rigging lived.  The mast-heads, like the tops of tall palms, were outspreadingly tufted with arms and legs.”

His combination of metaphors here is fascinating.  Instead of simply saying that the men rigged the mastheads, Melville uses metonymy to say this with “The rigging lived.”  Without the further context provided in the next sentence, this is rather confusing, as the rigging sounds personified.  He then compares the mast-heads to tree tops and implicitly describes the riggers, referring only to their limbs.

In another example, on the same page, he describes Ahab  mistaking something else for Moby Dick’s spout.  He writes,

“…for hardly had Ahab reached his perch; hardly was the rope belayed to its pin on deck, when he struck the key-hole to an orchestra, that made the air vibrate as with the combined discharges of rifles.”

Here, he employs two metaphors within a sentence to describe a single subject.  This creates a unique sort a imagery, with several unlike things being compared in the same breath.  The imagery becomes quite surrealistic.  It is enjoyable how Melville here is complicating and enriching the description of the scene at hand by at once referring to an orchestra and a band of gunmen, which are two things that have no connection to what is actually happening on the boat, but that keep the story interesting and inventive.

Lastly, on the next page (535), Melville states,

“Unmindful of the tedious rope-ladders of the shrouds, the men, like shooting stars, slid to the deck, by the isolated back-stays and halyards.”

As with this sentence, it certainly is easy, especially within the rest of the epic text, to pass over the subtle poetry laced throughout Moby Dick. This specific example captured my attention.  Indeed, I had to reread this sentence to ensure I had interpreted it correctly.

“…The men, like shooting stars, slid to the deck…”

How beautiful!  Simply said, Melville has a great imagination, which makes this book all the more delightful and entertaining.

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