WEBVTT

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"Line."

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A meditation on the line.

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And this is a long
quote from Melville

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"The whale-line
is only two-thirds

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of an inch in thickness.

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At first sight, you would
not think it so strong

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as it really is.

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By experiment, it's one and
fifty yarns will each suspend

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a weight of one hundred
and twenty pounds,

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so that the whole rope
will bear a strain nearly

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equal to three tons.

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In length, the
common sperm whale

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measures something over
two hundred fathoms.

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Toward the stern of the boat,
it is spirally coiled away

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in the tub, not like the
worm-pipe of a still though,

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but so as to form one round,
cheese-shaped mass of densely

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bedded 'sheaves,' or layers
of concentric spiralizations,

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without any hollow but the
'heart,' or minute vertical

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tube formed at the
axis of the cheese.

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As the least tangle
or kink in the coiling

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would, in running
out, infallilbly

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take someone's arm,
leg, or entire body off,

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the utmost precaution is used
in stowing the line in its tub.

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Some harpooners will consume
almost an entire morning

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in this business,
carrying the line high

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aloft, and then,
reeving it downwards

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through a block
toward the tub, so as

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in the act of coiling to free
it from all possible wrinkles

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and twists.

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The line is slightly vapored
with tar, which makes

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it compact, glossy, and dark.

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The line is loose on both ends.

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If a whale was struck and drove
past the length of the line,

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and the line was
attached to the boat,

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the boat would lunge into
the depths and be destroyed.

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Before lowering the
boat for the chase,

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the upper end of the line
is taken aft from the tub,

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and passing around
the loggerhead

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there, is again carried forward
the entire length of the boat,

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resting crosswise upon the loom
or handle of every man's oar,

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so that it jogs against
his wrist in rowing.

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And also passing
between the men,

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as they ultimately sit
at the opposite gunwales,

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to the loaded chocks or grooves
in the extreme pointed prow

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of the boat, where a
wooden pin or skewer

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the size of a common quill,
prevents it from slipping out.

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Thus the whale-line
folds the whole boat

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in its complicated coils,
twisting and writhing around

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in almost every direction.

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When the harpoon strikes
the whale, the whale sounds.

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The line speeds
down with the whale

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at a speed that will sever a
whaler's limb caught in a loop,

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or cut his skin
as with the knife,

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should it glance
against the line.

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The line is kept
cursive in the tub

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as ink is kept fluid in a pot.

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When the line is
attached to a nib

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and the nib pierces its
mark, the line quickens,

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and it grows taut.

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The line connects one
to what one wants.

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The whaler wants the whale.

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When the line is in the
whale, the whale flees.

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The tar-dark line
allows the whaler--

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once the whale has
spent all his energy--

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to bring the boat to the body.

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But if the whale gains
furious momentum enough,

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it empties to the tub
of line and escapes

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into fathomless depths.

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By the line, we know when we
are attached to what we desire.

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And by the line, we know when
what we desire has escaped.

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The line is the most
basic unit of verse.

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A poem is a line winding
from margin to margin,

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until the poem is done.

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A book is composed
of dark lines.

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A book pursues, in
lines, the meaning

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it desires to
understand or convey.

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A metaphoric stretch can
claim the poetic line,

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the same dangers as
of the whale-line.

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The reader and the whaler
are in the same boat.

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Euclid, 'The line is
a breadthless length.'

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Emerson, 'Every opinion
reacts on him who utters it.'

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It is a harpoon
hurled at the whale,

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unwinding as it flies, a
coil of cord in the boat.

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And if the harpoon is not
good or not well thrown,

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it will go nigh to cut
the steerman in twain,

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or to sink the boat.

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Etymology, a linen thread.

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Ahab to the carpenter, 'Dost
thou spin thy shroud out

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of thyself?'

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The white whale is found
upon, the season on the line.

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The carpenter on Ahab,
"he's always under the line,

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fiery-hot, I tell ye."

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Every book, unlike every
whale hunt, ends in silence.

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The line runs out,
and it becomes blank.

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All men live enveloped
in whale-lines."

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