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. My brother was at the stern, holding on to a small empty water-cask which had been securely lashed under the coop of the counter, and was the only thing on deck that had not been swept overboard when the gale first took us. We put the boat on the wind, but could make no headway at all for the eddies, and I was upon the point of proposing to return to the anchorage, when, looking astern, we saw the whole horizon covered with a singular copper-colored cloud that rose with the most amazing velocity. Descent (mathematics), an idea extending the notion of "gluing" in topology Hadamard's method of descent, a technique for solving partial differential equations Gradient descent, a first-order optimization algorithm going back to Newton Descents in permutations, a classical permutation statistic in combinatorics Other uses [ edit] 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, so that I tremble at the least exertion, and am frightened at a shadow. 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. It was just seven, by my watch, when we weighed and started for home, so as to make the worst of the Strm at slack water, which we knew would be at eight. Farther off between Moskoe and Vurrgh are Otterholm, Flimen, Sandflesen, and Stockholm. I now made one or two attempts to speak to my brother but, in some manner which I could not understand, the din had so increased that I could not make him hear a single word, although I screamed at the top of my voice in his ear. Poe really turned a natural phenomenon into something terrifying: really great example of a man-vs-nature story. 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. Be the first to contribute! There fish can be got at all hours, without much risk, and therefore these places are preferred. A singular change, too, had come over the heavens. Descent into the Maelstrom and Other Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. It was long before I could reason myself into sufficient courage to sit up and look out into the distance. The ordinary accounts of this vortex had by no means prepared me for what I saw. I suppose it was despair that strung my nerves. Entdecke Abstieg in den Strudel, Taschenbuch von Poe, Edgar Allan; Cedeno, Yasmira, B in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! The story of how he was caught during a storm in a maelstrom three years earlier with his brothers and how he survived. I took courage, and looked once again upon the scene. by BookSurge Classics. A singular change, too, had come over the heavens. The appearance of the ocean, in the space between the more distant island and the shore, had something very unusual about it. At first I was too much confused to observe anything accurately. This fir tree, I found myself at one time saying, will certainly be the next thing that takes the awful plunge and disappears, and then I was disappointed to find that the wreck of a Dutch merchant ship overtook it and went down before. descent meaning: 1. the state or fact of being related to a particular person or group of people who lived in the. For some moments we were completely deluged, as I say, and all this time I held my breath, and clung to the bolt. The rays of the moon seemed to search the very bottom of the profound gulf; but still I could make out nothing distinctly, on account of a thick mist in which everything there was enveloped, and over which there hung a magnificent rainbow, like that narrow and tottering bridge which Mussulmen say is the only pathway between Time and Eternity. Our boat was the lightest feather of a thing that ever sat upon water. 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. Excellent descriptive writing so much so I could almost taste, smell and hear the sounds of the sea. A Descent into the Maelstrom is a classic example of Poes incorporation of real-life, non-fiction accounts of phenomena into fiction. II) (abridged reprint, presumably from Tales) A Descent into the Maelstrm For some minutes the old man seemed too much exhausted to speak. We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the Strm was in full fury! Poe learnt about the maelstrom from several sources, which included an 1834 story in Frasers Magazine titled The Maelstrom: A Fragment. '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. Presently our little boat gave herself a shake, just as a dog does in coming out of the water, and thus rid herself, in some measure, of the seas. Here the vast bed of the waters, seamed and scarred into a thousand conflicting channels, burst suddenly into phrensied convulsion -- heaving, boiling, hissing -- gyrating in gigantic and innumerable vortices, and all whirling and plunging on to the eastward with a rapidity which water never elsewhere assumes except in precipitous descents. Suddenly -- very suddenly -- this assumed a distinct and definite existence, in a circle of more than a mile in diameter. 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. descent (dsnt) n. 1. the act, process, or fact of descending. Her starboard side was next the whirl, and on the larboard arose the world of ocean we had left. It opens at the top of a mountain, 4 Stars. I knew what he meant by that one word well enough -- I knew what he wished to make me understand. And how he survived with an application of science. 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. 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 did not care, however, to contest the point with him. Very descriptive but the story within a story doesnt quite work. 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. With the wind that now drove us on, we were bound for the whirl of the Strm, and nothing could save us! You are also entitled to have the goods repaired or replaced if the goods fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure. Now raise yourself up a little higher -- hold on to the grass if you feel giddy -- so -- and look out, beyond the belt of vapor beneath us, into the sea." When I recovered myself a little, however, my gaze fell instinctively downward. 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. And how they unfortunately didn't. I was now trying to get the better of the stupor that had come over me, and to collect my senses so as to see what was to be done, when I felt somebody grasp my arm. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea it being constantly high and low water every six hours. "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. I could not help observing, nevertheless, that I had scarcely more difficulty in maintaining my hold and footing in this situation, than if we had been upon a dead level ;and this, I suppose, was owing to the speed at which we revolved. 3.5 stars. See also Trivia | Goofs | Crazy Credits | Alternate Versions | Connections | Soundtracks Did You Know? The theme, as in Moby Dick, is that a vast and pitiless natural force symbolises the I was now trying to get the better of the stupor that had come over me, and to collect my senses so as to see what was to be done, when I felt somebody grasp my arm. A maelstrom is a whirlpool: the word dates from at least the sixteenth century and was formed from Dutch words malen (meaning grind) and stroom (meaning stream). All this time I had never let go of the ring-bolt. fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs); My eldest brother had a son eighteen years old, and I had two stout boys of my own. This story speaks to an American mythos, especially with the maelstrom likened to the moaning of a vast herd of buffaloes upon an American prairie. the cask of amontillado. "When a boat is well built, properly trimmed, and not deep laden, the waves in a strong gale, when she is going large, seem always to slip from beneath her -- which appears very strange to a landsman -- and this is what is called riding, in sea phrase. 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. She was quite upon an even keel -- that is to say, her deck lay in a plane parallel with that of the water -- but this latter sloped at an angle of more than forty-five degrees, so that we seemed to be lying upon our beam-ends. The three of us my two brothers and myself had crossed over to the islands about two oclock P. M., and had soon nearly loaded the smack with fine fish, which, we all remarked, were more plenty that day than we had ever known them. stories 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 The story is told by an old man who reveals that he only appears old"You suppose me a very old man," he says, "but I am not. As it is myself who now tell you this tale as you see that Ididescape and as you are already in possession of the mode in which this escape was effected, and must therefore anticipate all that I have farther to say I will bring my story quickly to conclusion. Artist: DEFEATED SANITY. In fact, we made it a matter of desperate speculation the risk of life standing instead of labor, and courage answering for capital. I now began to watch, with a strange interest, the numerous things that floated in our company. The depth in the centre of the Moskoe-strm must be immeasurably greater; and no better proof of this fact is necessary than can be obtained from even the sidelong glance into the abyss of the whirl which may be had from the highest crag of Helseggen. In fact, we made it a matter of desperate speculation -- the risk of life standing instead of labor, and courage answering for capital. But since Marie Bonapartes (now largely derided) analysis of Poes life and work in the 1930s, A Descent into the Maelstrom has also been analysed in light of Freudian psychoanalysis: the whirlpool represents the eddies and currents of sexual desire, threatening to overwhelm us. Nothing would have tempted me to within half a dozen yards of its brink. The sense of falling had ceased; and the motion of the vessel seemed much as it had been before, while in the belt of foam, with the exception that she now lay more along. "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. Now raise yourself up a little higher hold on to the grass if you feel giddy so and look out, beyond the belt of vapor beneath us, into the sea.. Be the first to contribute! I'd say this is for Poe's fans only. We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the Strm was in full fury! I have yet to read another writer with the ability to take all my senses into a story and make me live it. They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or reflection. biography But moment after moment elapsed. The "forty fathoms" must have reference only to portions of the channel close upon the shore either of Moskoe or Lofoden. -- lib. But this 17 page short story is just before Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," which I am eager to read! }}(document,'script','twitter-wjs'); But these intervals of tranquility are only at the turn of the ebb and flood, and in calm weather, and last but a quarter of an hour, its violence gradually returning. A Descent into the Maelstrm is one of his least known and most underrated tales, and I probably wouldn't have read it if I weren't such a big fan of his works. Up and look out into the Maelstrm '' is an 1841 short story by Edgar Allan Poe the of. Deafen, and therefore these places are preferred of Moskoe or Lofoden or.... More distant island and the shore, had come over the heavens much risk, and strangle You, looked... Ever sat upon water a storm in a Maelstrom three years earlier with his and... 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