The Mirror of the Sea · Chapter
XXXIX explained
The narrator reflects on the charm of the Mediterranean and his first Christmas night at sea during a gale in the Gulf of Lyons.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the charm of the Mediterranean and his first Christmas night at sea during a gale in the Gulf of Lyons. He describes the old, leaky ship and his youthful longing for adventure, comparing himself to Odysseus. He recalls a vision of a black Nausicaa on a tropical shore, but laments being born too late to encounter true royalty. The chapter ends with his return to the Mediterranean.
Themes in this chapter
Nostalgia and Loss
The narrator's fond recollection of his early days at sea and the lost romance of youthful adventure.
The Sea as Mirror
The Mediterranean reflects the narrator's inner longing for an Odyssean journey and the passage of time.
Routine and Monotony
The old ship's leaky condition and the repetitive nature of the voyage contrast with the narrator's romantic expectations.
Characters to notice
- Lord Nelson
Mentioned indirectly through the reference to the Romans ruling the Mediterranean, but not directly present.
Key passages
“The very first Christmas night I ever spent away from land was employed in running before a Gulf of Lyons gale, which made the old ship groan in every timber as she skipped before it over the short seas until we brought her to, battered and out of breath, under the lee of Majorca”
My first Christmas away from land was spent fleeing a gale in the Gulf of Lyons; the old ship groaned and skipped over the waves until we stopped, exhausted, under the shelter of Majorca.
Describes the narrator's first Christmas at sea during a storm.
“I lived to watch on a strange shore a black and youthful Nausicaa, with a joyous train of attendant maidens, carrying baskets of linen to a clear stream overhung by the heads of slender palm-trees.”
I later saw on a foreign shore a young black woman like Nausicaa, accompanied by happy maidens carrying laundry to a stream shaded by palm trees.
The narrator's romantic vision of a modern Nausicaa on a tropical shore.