Oh! my friends, but this is man-killing! --Chapter 98, Stowing Down and Clearing Up.SCENES BEYOND THE WESTERN BORDER (AUGUST 1852)
"O! my friend!"
--Scenes Beyond the Western Border, August 1852Deleted in revision, "O! my friend!" does not appear in the 1857 book version, Scenes and Adventures in the Army.
| "Scenes Beyond the Western Border" Southern Literary Messenger - August 1852 |
How am I changed, that my appearance on any scene should have power to work such woe? --Herman Melville, Pierre; Or, The Ambiguities (1852)SCENES BEYOND THE WESTERN BORDER
In crossing the Platte this morning, the grizzly bear cub came on the scene in his final act.
It will be remembered by the patient and attentive future reader of this dry and methodical narrative, that its first appearance on any stage, was in "high" tragedy—
--March 1853 Scenes Beyond the Western Border"; and Scenes and Adventures in the Army.
| Scenes Beyond the Western Border Southern Literary Messenger 19 (March 1853): 159 |
By infallible presentiment he saw, that not always doth life's beginning gloom conclude in gladness; that wedding-bells peal not ever in the last scene of life's fifth act....
Decreed by God Omnipotent it is, that Death should be the last scene of the last act of man's play;—a play, which begin how it may, in farce or comedy, ever hath its tragic end; the curtain inevitably falls upon a corpse.Related posts:
Himself was too much for himself. --Herman Melville, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities (1852).
... the imprisoned hero himself sank overwhelmed.... -- Scenes Beyond the Western Border (March 1853); and Scenes and Adventures in the Army (1857).In the examples below, all from Moby-Dick (1851) and Pierre (1852), the reflexive pronoun himself functions also as an intensive pronoun that emphasizes its antecedent (the noun, pronoun, or proper noun that comes before it). Page numbers refer to First American editions, digitized and available online courtesy of HathiTrust Digital Library:
Moby-Dick; or, The Whaleand the Internet Archive:
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t3kw6ns1s
Pierre; or, The Ambiguities
https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044011420494
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
https://archive.org/details/mobydickorwhale01melv/page/n7
Pierre; or, The AmbiguitiesMOBY-DICK [39/205]
https://archive.org/details/pierreorambigui00melvgoog
In crossing the Platte this morning, the grizzly bear cub came on the scene in his final act.
It will be remembered by the patient and attentive future reader of this dry and methodical narrative, that its first appearance on any stage, was in "high" tragedy—that the first act embraced an unusual amount of sanguinary incident—that an innocent brother, (or sister,) being ruthlessly slain, and the baffled lady-mother left (unceremoniously) full of towering and demonstrative rage,— the imprisoned hero himself sank overwhelmed,—or in a well-acted counterfeit of death, (and was borne off, remember, on a "real" horse). That in the next act, (and three acts shall do for the tragedy of my bear,—originally they had but one,—but that was at the sacrifice of a goat,) he came to life in a manner that might very well have been criticized as an overdone piece of stage-effect,—but that in fact, the spectators were much moved, and gave full credit to the dangerous passion of his howl.
To-day, then,—for I scorn anachronism— was performed the final act. The stage (wagon) was on "real water." Enraged at his wrongs, his losses, and his galling chain, the "robustious beast" acted in a ridiculous and unbearable manner; aye, ''tore his passion to tatters, to very rags,"—splinters; the stage (wagon) could not hold him: and finally in despair, he "imitated humanity so abominably," as to throw himself headlong, and so drown—or hang himself: (the author cannot decide which—even after a post mortem examination;—and so leaves the decision of this important point to the commentators).Related posts:
My tragedy is all true,—and if not quite serious, has, as is proper, its moral;—but rather, as I have alluded to the primitive tragedy, let that "future reader" here imagine the entry of Chorus, and their song to Freedom! That dumb beasts prefer death to slavery! Liberty lost, they can die without the excitement of the world's applause, or hopes of a grateful posterity! (It is not possible, I think, that the cub could have known that I would immortalize him.) --March 1853 Scenes Beyond the Western Border"; and Scenes and Adventures in the Army.
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| Bogard, Batiste, and I Chasing Buffalo in High Grass on a Missouri Bottom. George Catlin via Wikimedia Commons |
Pierre little foresaw that this world hath a secret deeper than beauty, and Life some burdens heavier than death.
"Well, life's a burden, they say; why not be burdened cheerily?"
--Pierre; Or, The AmbiguitiesSCENES BEYOND THE WESTERN BORDER (APRIL 1852)
An hour—almost of happiness—passes, and we take up our burdens and part forever!
I. F. [Imaginary Friend] ... Your 'almost happiness!' — and 'burden,' of life did you mean? for I never saw one lighter mounted on a finer horse!
| Southern Literary Messenger - April 1852 |
Friend. ... Your "almost happiness!"— and "burden," of life did you mean? for I never saw one lighter mounted on a finer horse! --Scenes and Adventures in the Army
