Washington Irving

Name: The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon — The Voyage
Author: Washington Irving

The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

Summary

“The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon — The Voyage”, published in 1819, is a work by Washington Irving. It explores elements such as waves, ship and shore.

Quotes from The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (Washington Irving)

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ Silence, oblivion, like the waves, have closed over them, and no one can tell the story of their end. What sighs have been wafted after that ship! what prayers offered up at the deserted fireside of home! How often has the mistress, the wife, the mother, pored over the daily news, to catch some casual intelligence of this rover of the deep! How has expectation darkened into anxiety--anxiety into dread--and dread into despair! Alas! not one memento may ever return for love to cherish. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ In travelling by land there is a continuity of scene, and a connected succession of persons and incidents, that carry on the story of life, and lessen the effect of absence and separation. We drag, it is true, "a lengthening chain" at each remove of our pilgrimage; but the chain is unbroken; we can trace it back link by link; and we feel that the last still grapples us to home. But a wide sea voyage severs us at once. It makes us conscious of being cast loose from the secure anchorage of settled life, and sent adrift upon a doubtful world. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ It is impossible to resist the gladdening influence of fine weather and fair wind at sea. When the ship is decked out in all her canvas, every sail swelled, and careering gayly over the curling waves, how lofty, how gallant, she appears--how she seems to lord it over the deep! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ To one given to day-dreaming, and fond of losing himself in reveries, a sea voyage is full of subjects for meditation; but then they are the wonders of the deep and of the air, and rather tend to abstract the mind from worldly themes. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ I delighted to loll over the quarter-railing or climb to the main-top, of a calm day, and muse for hours together on the tranquil bosom of a summer's sea; to gaze upon the piles of golden clouds just peering above the horizon, fancy them some fairy realms, and people them with a creation of my own ”

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Source: Wikisource

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ At sea, every thing that breaks the monotony of the surrounding expanse attracts attention. It proved to be the mast of a ship that must have been completely wrecked; for there were the remains of handkerchiefs, by which some of the crew had fastened themselves to this spar, to prevent their being washed off by the waves. There was no trace by which the name of the ship could be ascertained. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ Sometimes a distant sail, gliding along the edge of the ocean, would be another theme of idle speculation. How interesting this fragment of a world, hastening to rejoin the great mass of existence! What a glorious monument of human invention; which has in a manner triumphed over wind and wave; has brought the ends of the world into communion ”

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Source: Wikisource

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ One goes abroad for merchandise and trading, Another stays to keep his country from invading, A third is coming home with rich and wealthy lading. Hallo! my fancie, whither wilt thou go? OLD POEM. To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has to make is an excellent preparative. The temporary absence of worldly scenes and employments produces a state of mind peculiarly fitted to receive new and vivid impressions. The vast space of waters that separate the hemispheres is like a blank page in existence. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Washington Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (1819)

“ There is no gradual transition by which, as in Europe, the features and population of one country blend almost imperceptibly with those of another. From the moment you lose sight of the land you have left, all is vacancy, until you step on the opposite shore, and are launched at once into the bustle and novelties of another world. ”

Washington Irving

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Quotes from The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon… (Washington Irving)

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