Wednesday, December 23, 2020

You were thinking, of rivers literal and figurative

PIERRE (1852)
"They lock and bar out, then, when they rest, do they, Pierre?" said Isabel.

"Yes, and you were thinking that does not bode well for the welcome I spoke of."

"Thou read'st all my soul; yes, I was thinking of that. But whither lead these long, narrow, dismal side-glooms we pass every now and then? What are they? They seem terribly still. I see scarce any body in them;—there's another, now. See how haggardly look its criss-cross, far-separate lamps.—What are these side-glooms, dear Pierre; whither lead they?"

"They are the thin tributaries, sweet Isabel, to the great Oronoco thoroughfare we are in; and like true tributaries, they come from the far-hidden places; from under dark beetling secrecies of mortar and stone; through the long marsh-grasses of villainy, and by many a transplanted bough-beam, where the wretched have hung."

 https://archive.org/details/pierreorambigui00melvgoog/page/n324/mode/2up



SCENES BEYOND THE WESTERN BORDER (MAY 1853)
F. — "You are wonderfully given to personification; particularly of rivers. I suppose you were thinking of the desolate flatness, the choking sands, and the profitless end, the now fair and promising river comes to?"

C. — "Exactly — and it led to melancholy thoughts. Well, these dreary steppes, where the mountain streams,— fresh from springs and snow, are the chief objects of interest, must account for it; they have at least the motion and music of life; — if they are not persons, there are none other, and I believe they answer me about as well."
https://archive.org/details/scenesadventures00cook/page/404/mode/2up


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