Shadrach and song

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fin john

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May 13, 2010, 9:49:56 AM5/13/10
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All,
 
   Melville cites in chapter 98, "Stowing Down and Clearing Up," how the whale was slaughtered and beheaded and condemned to the pots, but "like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his spermaceti oil, and bone pass unscathed through the fire." In the Book of Daniel those three Jews are thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to bow to a golden idol but come out from the furnace unharmed. These three are in stark contrast to the crew of the Pequod who are deadened by fire. Thus fire must not necessarily deaden.
 
   Also in this first paragraph Melville sings! "but now it remains to conclude the last chapter of this part of the description by rehearsing---singing, if I may---the romantic proceeding of decanting off his oil into the casks and striking then down into the hold." How are the following descriptions in this chapter considered romantic? Melville singing? Could Melville have been reminded of some song involving the three Biblical figures? These three appear in songs today? Were there any such songs involving them in Melville's day?
 
John Gretchko

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Hardeman

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May 13, 2010, 1:13:54 PM5/13/10
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John ,
Just after WW2 as I five year old I would sing along with a recording
of the poetic Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
You can here a better version today played by the immortal Mr.
Armstrong at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1baNdgImo
A little research might turn up one in Melville's day
Dig it,
Hardeman

On May 13, 9:49 am, fin john <stein.fin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> All,
>
>    Melville cites in chapter 98, "Stowing Down and Clearing Up," how the
> whale was slaughtered and beheaded and condemned to the pots, but "like
> Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his spermaceti oil, and bone pass unscathed
> through the fire." In the Book of Daniel those three Jews are thrown into a
> fiery furnace for refusing to bow to a golden idol but come out from the
> furnace unharmed. These three are in stark contrast to the crew of the *
> Pequod* who are deadened by fire. Thus fire must not necessarily deaden.

Ackin

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May 14, 2010, 2:23:26 AM5/14/10
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John,

The song is a requiem, "a song or hymn of mourning composed or
performed as a memorial to a dead person". I hear "canto" in
"decanting" and "hearse" in "rehearsing". A song for the dead? We're
invited to a funeral or an interment where the remains (sediments) of
the whale will soon be descending (decanted) into the depths (de
profundis...) of the ship. The soul of the whale must be purified from
its sin just as the whalemen must be cleaned from the blood. I think
that Psalm 130 is hinted here. And the word "psalm" is the anagram of
"lamps"...

Fire + ashes + oil = a soap opera

Nick

PS @Stephen: Candles (or lamps) + Mass = Candlemas, fourty days after
the winter solstice.

Ros’ Haruo

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May 14, 2010, 3:17:10 AM5/14/10
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Of course, the original venue of these three is the Book of Daniel, in the Greek version of which (included in Catholic Bibles, but relegated to the Apocrypha in Protestant ones) they are the Three Hebrew Children or Three Young Men whose song in the fiery furnace is recorded in full, following the Prayer of Azariah, in chapter 3, verses 52-90; here is the Esperanto version and here is an English one. This is not the song ending "but they had asbestos BVDs and gave the king a laugh" that I learned as a kid, but it is their song and may have been in Melville's mind as he wrote.

Haruo aka Leland

Stephen Hoy

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May 14, 2010, 4:02:25 AM5/14/10
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Benedicite omnia opera Domini Domino etc.

The Benedicite is a canticle found in the Book of Common Prayer. The canticle extracts verses 35–65/6 of The Song of the Three, an apocryphal insertion to the midpoint of the story of the three young men in the furnace. The insertion comes at Daniel 3:23 & 3:24.

Melville's allusion to this canticle is clear enough if you stick to fire, but less clear if we add in the "three",


From: fin john <stein....@gmail.com>
To: ishmailites <ishma...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thu, May 13, 2010 8:49:56 AM
Subject: Shadrach and song

gordon poole

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May 14, 2010, 10:30:20 PM5/14/10
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        Actually the story of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abnegnego is in the King James Bible, in Daniel 3:12 seq. I'm not sure Protestants even use the concept of Apocrypha, meaning books that are not canonical, in the sense of fully the word of God, although they contain truths and spiritual values. It's more a Roman Catholic distinction.
        As I think has been noticed, there is a well-known song I know about the three Hebrew resisters. I think the old Golden Gate Quartet used to sing it (apart from the Louis Armstrong version that has been recalled). The question is whether it or some other was around in Melville's time. It shouldn't be too hard to research this.
                Gordon Poole

Ros’ Haruo

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May 14, 2010, 11:50:08 PM5/14/10
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Traditionally anglophone Protestants have used the term "Apocrypha" for the same basic set of texts that Catholics (and more recently, ecumenically inclined Protestants) call "Deuterocanonicals". The King James Version contains the Protestant Apocrypha, in a separate section between the Testaments, although most copies don't have it because most of them are published by and/or for folks who don't use them. But the Church of England has always made space in its Bibles for these books and parts of books. Traditional Catholic use of the term "Apocrypha" has been more like what others (and ecumenically inclined Catholics) call the Pseudepigrapha.
 
The Book of Daniel in the KJV contains the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but not their song. The song is also in the KJV, but in the Apocrypha, not in Daniel proper. (The Protestant Apocrypha also includes two other Additions to Daniel, Susanna and Bel and the Dragon. All of these Additions to Daniel are incorporated directly into the Book of Daniel in Catholic Bibles (and others based on the Septuagint and/or the Vulgate). The Masoretic text does not contain these portions.
 
FWIW. Maybe I'll start a thread at the Mudcat Café and see what the experts have on this topic.
 
Leland aka Haruo

Ros’ Haruo

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May 14, 2010, 11:51:27 PM5/14/10
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This topic in the cantical sense, not the (deutero)canonical one.


On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 8:50 PM, Ros’ Haruo <rosh...@gmail.com> wrote:
Traditionally anglophone Protestants have used the term "Apocrypha" for the same basic set of texts that Catholics (and more recently, ecumenically inclined Protestants) call "Deuterocanonicals". The King James Version contains the Protestant Apocrypha, in a separate section between the Testaments, although most copies don't have it because most of them are published by and/or for folks who don't use them. But the Church of England has always made space in its Bibles for these books and parts of books. Traditional Catholic use of the term "Apocrypha" has been more like what others (and ecumenically inclined Catholics) call the Pseudepigrapha.
 
The Book of Daniel in the KJV contains the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but not their song. The song is also in the KJV, but in the Apocrypha, not in Daniel proper. (The Protestant Apocrypha also includes two other Additions to Daniel, Susanna and Bel and the Dragon. All of these Additions to Daniel are incorporated directly into the Book of Daniel in Catholic Bibles (and others based on the Septuagint and/or the Vulgate). The Masoretic text does not contain these portions.
 
FWIW. Maybe I'll start a thread at the Mudcat Café and see what the experts have on this topic.

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Leland Bryant Ross aka Ros' Haruo

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May 15, 2010, 5:01:03 AM5/15/10
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I've inaugurated a thread, "Shadrach, Meshach and Queequeg", over at
the Mudcat Café:

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129497&messages=1

If it comes up with anything wonderful, I'll try to remember to link
it or copy it here.

Leland aka Haruo

On May 13, 6:49 am, fin john <stein.fin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> All,
>
>    Melville cites in chapter 98, "Stowing Down and Clearing Up," how the
> whale was slaughtered and beheaded and condemned to the pots, but "like
> Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his spermaceti oil, and bone pass unscathed
> through the fire." In the Book of Daniel those three Jews are thrown into a
> fiery furnace for refusing to bow to a golden idol but come out from the
> furnace unharmed. These three are in stark contrast to the crew of the *
> Pequod* who are deadened by fire. Thus fire must not necessarily deaden.

fin john

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May 15, 2010, 9:46:28 AM5/15/10
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All,
   Since Melville seems often to carry over themes from one chapter to the next, Ffrangcon may have something with the ballad of "Aladdin's Lamp." Perhaps there had been other versions of this and earlier ones. Maybe even a ribald one.
    If Melville is in a singing mood, what does that portend? By the way, do we have any indications that Melville ever sang?       John Gretchko

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