Chapter 81 The Pequod meets the Virgin
dan.m...@juno.com
Chapter 81 The Pequod meets the Virgin
The initial question posed by John involved the first sentence of this chapter. “The predestinated day arrived, and we duly met the ship Jungfrau, Derick De Deer, master, of Bremen.” John’s query: why and how is this day predestined?
The collective response to
this question appears to be “I donno.” A response I often use myself.
But in this case the answer was posted before John’s inquiry. The answer is found in my analysis weeks ago concerning Chapter 132 The Symphony. I noted the astronomical core from which Melville constructed the gams lies in the following:
Chapter 52 The Pequod meets the Albatross
I have no doubt Melville was consulting a starmap containing the constellation Argo Navis. The constellation does not exist on modern maps having been broken up into various parts of the ship as new constellations on modern star maps
Chapter 54 The Town Ho’s Story.
Astronomically, story line, time line, geographics, character development and author’s intent all strongly suggest the appearance of Halley’s comet during the Fall-winter of 1835 was the core inspiration of this gam.
Chapter 71 The Pequod meets the Jeroboam
From memory this gam is related to comet 1840 I.
Chapter 81 The Pequod meets the Virgin
Melville had in planning of this gam characteristics of the planet Jupiter.
John Birk was the first to discuss the last voyage of the Pequod in an astrological context. As the ship sails from one ocean to the next in search of the whale it is traveling through the twelve astrological signs of the Zodiac. I contend the ship sails with respect to the astronomical sky not astrological signs.
A plot of the position of the sun from day to day relative to the more distant stars of the Zodiac would inform the observer the sun appears to travel approximately one degree each day. With three hundred sixty five sun positions the sun will be back to the starting point. If you connect the dots you have produced a line called the ecliptic. It is the apparent path of the sun. The sun’s annual motion with respect to the background stars. The moon and five naked eye planets appear within a few degrees north or south of the ecliptic.
Now let’s look at the gams. The Albatross is based on the constellation Argo Navis a constellation that existed on star maps of 1850’s. It was located far from the ecliptic, some fifty degrees south of the ecliptic, and therefore the Pequod cannot intercept the constellation Argo Navis. The Town Ho chapter and the Jeroboam chapter are cometary based. Comets have a negative reputation due in part to their ability to appear from nowhere, go anywhere in the sky and traverse paths that do not conform to the regular path of the ecliptic. Some comets have paths across the backyard sky that run perpendicular to the ecliptic. The position of the Pequod does not intersect comets in our timeframe.
Chapter 81 The Pequod meets the Virgin is Jupiter based. It is the first planet the Pequod meets since the beginning of the voyage from Nantucket and celestially from the First Point of Aries (Vernal Equinox), on the ecliptic. Since Mr. Melville chose the year for the voyage, the Pequod’s course being the ecliptic, meeting the Virgin (Jupiter) was predestined. One cannot help but notice the general rule of Roman mythology. It is Jupiter who chases the virgin, but in Chapter 81 it is the Virgin who chases Jupiter.
How can we associate this chapter to Jupiter?
The ships spot a pod of eight whales “…and many fathoms in the rear, swam a huge. humped old bull…” In 1850 as now, eight major planets orbit the sun. Jupiter was known as the largest planet just as the old bull was the largest of the eight in the pod. The planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune orbit the sun counterclockwise as seen from the north celestial pole. Simply stated, this has the effect of remaining seven planets appear to move in front of the more distant stars from the west to the east known as annual motion. In the middle of our gam inspired window from December 17th 1839 to January 5th 1840, Jupiter was the westernmost of the planets, and therefore “many fathoms in the rear.” The celestial Pequod would have to approach the “pod” of planets from the west, encountering Jupiter first. This astronomical interpretation provides an explanation for the first sentence in Chapter 81.
Consider parallels:
Both whales had elevated amounts of iron in their systems.
At the time Moby-Dick was being written, Jupiter was known as a “gas giant.” The old bull has “…strange subterranean commotions in him, which seemed to have egress at his other buried extremity, causing the waters behind him to upbubble.”
Starbuck tries to stop Ahab from Ahab’s quest to kill Moby Dick and fails.
Starbuck tries to stop Flask from Flask’s last jab to kill the old bull and fails.
The old bull was physically deformed; no eyes, one flipper, tormented jet.
Moby Dick was physically deformed; white hump, crooked jaw, and three holes in his starboard fluke.
Consider differences:
Flask and crew survive their encounter with the old bull.
Ahab and crew do not survive their encounter with Moby Dick.
The old bull nearly sinks the Pequod.
Moby Dick sinks the Pequod.
The conclusion: Flask is not Ahab, Moby Dick is not the old bull.
A reader might entertain the possibility Chapter 81 presents a popular and Hollywood version of Moby-Dick.
Mr. Melville describes Flask’s temperament as: “… very pugnacious concerning whales, who somehow seemed to think that the great Leviathans had personally and hereditarily affronted him; and therefore it was a sort of point of honor with him, to destroy them whenever encountered.” To most of the Turner Movie Channel audience this sounds like Ahab. In an unpublished interview with Ray Bradbury who you may recall, wrote the screenplay of the 1950’s John Houston version of Moby-Dick, Bradbury says; “Moby-Dick was the most unusual book I’ve ever read. The story line is carried in only 18 to 20 chapters, yet the novel is 135 chapters long. Now what are all the other chapters about?”
Years ago someone brought to our attention an editorial cartoon showing a cartoon George W. Bush on top of a cartoon white whale. The whale had “Iraq” stamped on its side. This editorial cartoon is misleading on many levels. The editorial cartoonist may have read Moby-Dick, but did not appreciate it. George W. Bush does not attain the level of Flask, let alone Ahab
It is interesting to note Melville’s description of Ahab enables one to pidgin hole Ahab’s affliction in modern psychoanalytic terms. We must be careful not to short circuit Melville’s intention. The plane on which Ahab interacts with Moby Dick lies beyond the telescope, authors pen, psychologist couch, artist brush or Sunday school sermon.
Best,
Dan
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Phil Walsh
Do we know whether Melville owned a particular starmap? What astronomy and/or astrology books are listed in "Melville's Reading" or "Melville's Sources"? Do any of his known letters to friends or family discuss astrology or astronomy in any detail?
Thanks for any info,
Phil Walsh
fin john
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Phil Walsh
On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:26:49 -0800
fin john <stein....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Phil,
> Yes, Melville owned the popular atlas by Elijah
>Burritt. I cannot
>Geography of the Heavens*?
> It is described in the online version of *Melville's
>Reading*. His brothers
> also owned astronomy schoolbooks. HM probably owned the
> of the Heavens*. John Gretchko
>
dan.m...@juno.com
Phil Walsh...
I don't have quite the same response to your inquiry as John G.
The question that concerns me: "Do we know which if any star map(s) Melville used in the construction of Moby-Dick?
There are three constellations Melville uses in the novel that are not standard presentations in today's official constellated sky. If we can somehow discover Mr. Melville used but one text, then Buritts Geography of the Heavens was not it. I examined a copy that John suggests Melville owned, but only one of the three constellations are portrayed as Melville describes in Moby-Dick.
Someday soon I plan to visit an old college friend in Washington D.C., who was a former official of the Naval Observatory. Between the Observatory's collection of star maps of 1840's - 1850's, as well as the Library of Congress, I might have more to say on this subject. Hand me a star map of the proper time period and I can determine in less than a minute if this was a sole map Mr. Melville used as reference.
I am not convinced he used a flat star map as John suggests. His observations are too precise. I suspect he had access to a celestial globe with horizon ring for rising and setting data. In addition, the globe would have been able to rotate along an equatorial axis to illustrate the change of star positions with change in latitude of the ship. A celestial globe and Farmer's Almanac, pencil and paper are all that is required to reproduce the astronomical sightings in the novel.
I have purposely stayed away from readings of Melville's life and times. I've read Lorie Robertson - Lorant's biography of Melville over a decade ago, but that is the extent.
If the Melville I describe in these postings is not the Melville you are accustomed to, keep in mind he held certificates in surveying and engineering. This was an author who was not afraid to manipulate plane and spherical geometry to tell a tale.
Best,
Dan
---------- Original Message ----------
From: Phil Walsh <pj...@netins.net>
To: Ishmailites <Ishma...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Melville and the night sky
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:10:23 -0600
Dear Dan Matagla,
Do we know whether Melville owned a particular starmap? What astronomy and/or astrology books are listed in "Melville's Reading" or "Melville's Sources"? Do any of his known letters to friends or family discuss astrology or astronomy in any detail?
Thanks for any info,
Phil Walsh
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John,
My submissions concentrate on how we can determine the year the Pequod sailed. If I were submitting John Burk's logic for a Virgo - Libra block I would properly reference Chapter 81 as part of that block.
Incidentally Birk assigns Starbuck to the constellation Virgo.
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Hardeman
Consider if you will the use of "Ahaz-dial" from the Bible in the
following context.
“this gnomon-like fin stands up and casts shadows upon the
wrinkled surface, it may well be supposed that the watery circle
surrounding it somewhat resembles a dial, with its style and wavy
hour-lines graved on it. On that Ahaz-dial the shadow often goes
back”[MD Cetology]
Given that Melville is comparing a natural occurring shadow of a fin
with a sun dial that by believers was considered a miracle, the most
likely source for the Ahaz sun dial is the Book of Kings. Those who
use Bible references for examples of miracles include Isaiah’s “And
Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten
degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz. [2
Kings 20:11] That “miracle” was similar to the one in Joshua “"And
the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged
themselves upon their enemies . . .” At some level he is making a
tongue in cheek observation of those who believe in miracles and at
another level respect for the wonders of nature and how we interpret
them.
I have been following the heavenly centered discussion at a distance
Hardeman
On Jan 30, 1:24 pm, fin john <stein.fin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> All again,
>
> "Four paragraphs before the Ophite reference Melville writes of Moby
> Dick 'leaving a milky-way wake of creamy foam, all spangled with golden
> gleamings.' Hyphenating *milky-way*, when using it as an adjective, is
> grammatically correct today and was undoubtedly so in 1851. Burritt, but
> never Jamieson, hyphenates far more often than not the noun
> *Milky-Way*throughout his book. At the end of his chapter description
> of the Via
> Lactea, Burritt quotes Milton:
>
> 'A broad and ample road, whose dust is gold,
> And pavement, stars, as stars to thee appear,
> Seen in the Galaxy, that Milky-Way,
> Which nightly, as a circling zone, thou seest
> Powdered with stars.'
>
> "Burriit hyphenates Milton's Milky-Way which editions of Milton seem not to
> do. Where Melville writes of 'golden gleamings,' Milton says 'whose dust is
> gold.' Henry F Pommer does not consider Melville's use of Milton for this
> phrase. Here again, the evidence is slim to positively indite Burritt or
> Milton, but it is a tantalization.
>
> "Burritt follows his chapter on the Milky Way with one called 'Origins
> of the Constellations.' Here he investigates the murky beginnings of
> astronomy and speaks of 'the shadow's going back on the dial of Ahaz.' In
> some early editions this appears on the page directly opposite Burritt's
> Milton quotation. In chapter 32 of *Moby-Dick*, Melville describes the
> gnomon-like fin of the fin-back whale and says, 'On that Ahaz-dial the
> shadow often goes back.' He could be paraphrasing Burritt."
>
> To be continued Johnh Gretchko
>
> On 1/28/10, fin john <stein.fin...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > All,
>
> > "Circumstantial evidence for the use of Burritt's *Geography of the
> > Heavens *appears in *Moby-Dick*. Burritt's text describes each
> > constellation astronomically and historically or mythologically. His book
> > becomes a grand compendium of myth as it relates to astronomy. The entry
> > before Corona Borealis and Alphacca is Serpens; Burritt begins the Serpent's
> > history thus:
>
> > 'The Hivites of the Old Testament were worshippers of the Serpent and were
> > called Ophites. The idolatry of these Ophites was extremely ancient and was
> > connected to Tsabaism or the worship of the host of heaven.The heresy of the
> > Ophites, mentioned by Mosheim in his Ecclesiastical History, originated
> > perhaps in the admission into the Christian church of some remnant of the
> > ancient and popular sect of the Tsabaists, who adored the celestial
> > Serpent.'
>
> > "Burritt lifts this paragraph verbatim from Jamieson's book. Melville in
> > chapter 41 speaks of Ahab's disposition toward the White Whale. For Ahab the
> > whale is a malignity much like that 'which the ancient Ophites of the east
> > reverenced in their statue devil.' Burrittt and Jamieson describe the
> > idolatry of the Ophites as ancient. The phrase 'adored the celestial
> > serpent' compares favorably with Melville's 'reverenced in their statue
> > devil.' Just previous to Burritt's historical description, but not in
> > Jamieson, Burritt quotes some constellation poetry which seems to be falsely
> > attributed to Statius. The quotation ends with Statius' name italicized. It
> > looks much like 'statue.' (In fact the 1873 edition of Burritt misprints it
> > 'Statiue.') The words *Ophites, ancient *and *statue* in any combination
> > would assuredly reveal Melville's source for that line in* Moby-Dick*.
> > The evidence would favor Burritt not Jamieson, if this is Melville's Ophite
> > source." To be continued John Gretchko
>
> > On 1/27/10, fin john <stein.fin...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> Dan and all,
>
> >> The following is a paragraph that I have taken from my book, *Melvillean
> >> Ambiguities*, in an essay labeled "Herman Melville and Elijah Burritt's
> >> Astronomy:"
>
> >> "In chapter 136 of *Mardi*, Melville spells the name of the
> >> primary star in the constellation Corona Borealis, Alphacca. This unorthodox
> >> spelling is peculiar at least to Burritt's *Atlas, Designed to Illustrate
> >> the Geography of the Heavens* and to two authors who are associated with
> >> Burritt, Alexander Jamieson, from whose *A Celestial Atlas* (1822)
> >> Burritt plagiarized considerable written and illustrated material, and Hiram
> >> Mattison who in 1850 revised and enlarged Burritt. Mattison's *Elementary
> >> Astronomy* (1847) contains the spelling. The normal spelling is Alphecca,
> >> with a central *e* instead of *a*. In one of the most comprehensive books
> >> on star lore, *Star-Names and Their Meanings *(1899), Richard Hinckley
> >> Allen gives the correct name for this star, Alphecca or Gemma. William Henry
> >> Smyth in *A Cycle of Celestial Objects *(1844) says: 'its most usual name
> >> on the Catlogues is Alphecca.' If Melville had seen either the *Atlas* of
> >> Burritt or his *Geography of the Heavens*, then this unusual spelling
> >> could suggest that he had used either one or both when he was composing *
> >> Mardi.*"
>
> >> Melville obtained the *Atlas *apparently on 30 August 1848 from
> >> Evert Duyckinck. Within the next few days I will describe how he seems to
> >> have used Burritt's *Geography* in *Moby-Dick*. I am not suggesting that
> >> Melville used but one atlas. I am suggesting that since he owned Burritt's
> >> *Atlas* he most probably referred to it.
>
> >> Dan, what descriptions of constellations in Melville do not fit
> >> Burritt's *Atlas*? I like your suggestion of his use of a celestial
> >> globe. Do we know what types of globes were available at the time? John
> >> Gretchko
>
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