Nightmare Abbey · Chapter
Epigraph explained
The epigraph presents three quotations that set the thematic tone for the novel: Samuel Butler's verse on self-inflicted melancholy and visionary torment, a dialogue from Ben Jonson's play linking melancholy to wit and poetic production, an
What happens
The epigraph presents three quotations that set the thematic tone for the novel: Samuel Butler's verse on self-inflicted melancholy and visionary torment, a dialogue from Ben Jonson's play linking melancholy to wit and poetic production, and a Rabelaisian proverb about choosing to be a goose among swans rather than mute among eloquent poets.
Themes in this chapter
Melancholy and Misanthropy
The Butler and Jonson excerpts directly celebrate melancholy as a source of visionary torment and creative wit, establishing the novel's central mood.
Satire of Literary and Philosophical Fashions
The epigraph's juxtaposition of high literary references and the mock-heroic tone of the Butler quote signals a satirical treatment of contemporary literary and philosophical affectations.
Key passages
“There’s a dark lantern of the spirit, Which none see by but those who bear it, That makes them in the dark see visions And hag themselves with apparitions, Find racks for their own minds, and vaunt Of their own misery and want.”
The mind has a hidden light that only its owner perceives, causing them to hallucinate in darkness, torment themselves with imaginary horrors, and boast about their own suffering and deprivation.
Samuel Butler's verse introduces the theme of self-inflicted melancholy and the perverse pride taken in misery.
“Oh! it’s your only fine humour, sir. Your true melancholy breeds your perfect fine wit, sir. I am melancholy myself, divers times, sir; and then do I no more but take pen and paper presently, and overflow you half a score or a dozen of sonnets at a sitting.”
Melancholy is the finest temperament; genuine sadness produces the most elegant wit. I often feel melancholic myself, and when I do, I immediately write a dozen sonnets in one go.
From Ben Jonson's play, this dialogue links melancholy directly to poetic creativity, a key conceit of the novel.
“Ay esleu gazouiller et siffler oye, comme dit le commun proverbe, entre les cygnes, plutoust que d’estre entre tant de gentils poëtes et faconds orateurs mut du tout estimé.”
I have chosen to chirp and whistle like a goose among swans, as the common proverb says, rather than be considered completely mute among so many noble poets and eloquent orators.
Rabelais's proverb expresses a humble yet defiant choice to speak imperfectly among the great, rather than remain silent.