Travel Essays · Chapter
Down the Oise: To Compiègne explained
The chapter describes the final leg of the journey down the Oise River to Compiègne, marked by persistent rain that finally gives way to fair weather.
What happens
The chapter describes the final leg of the journey down the Oise River to Compiègne, marked by persistent rain that finally gives way to fair weather. The travelers, weary from the wet, stop at an inn in Pimprez, where they lament their misfortunes. As the weather clears, the river becomes broader and more tranquil, and the canoes are carried gently downstream. The chapter ends with their arrival at Compiègne at sunset, where they are observed by locals.
Themes in this chapter
Travel and Discovery
The chapter focuses on the physical journey down the Oise, with descriptions of changing weather, river landscapes, and the arrival at Compiègne.
Nature and the Sublime
The clearing weather, grand clouds, and tranquil river evoke a sense of natural beauty and the sublime.
Characters to notice
- The Cigarette
Acts as spokesman with aplomb, handling the landlady with a dull, positive manner.
Key passages
“The most patient people grow weary at last with being continually wetted with rain; except of course in the Scottish Highlands, where there are not enough fine intervals to point the difference.”
Even the most patient person eventually tires of constant rain, unless they are in the Scottish Highlands, where it rains so often that there is no contrast with dry weather.
Stevenson uses humor to highlight the relentlessness of the rain.
“That was our last wetting. The afternoon faired up: grand clouds still voyaged in the sky, but now singly, and with a depth of blue around their path; and a sunset in the daintiest rose and gold inaugurated a thick night of stars and a month of unbroken weather.”
That was the last time we got soaked. The afternoon cleared, with large clouds moving alone across a deep blue sky, and a delicate pink and gold sunset began a night full of stars and a month of fine weather.
The shift in weather marks a turning point in the journey.