=Discussion.= 1. Locate the scene of this story on a map. 2. Read from the dictionary and encyclopedia to learn about whirlpools. 3. What do you learn from Jonas Ramus’s description of the whirlpool? 4. How does the _Encyclopedia Britannica_ account for the vortex? 5. What was the theory of Kircher? 6. How does the hero account for his apparent age? 7. Relate briefly in your own words the hero’s story of his experience in the maelstrom. 8. What tempted him to brave the dangers of the whirlpool? 9. Account for his miscalculation of the time of the slack. 10. What three observations did the hero make while descending into the maelstrom? 11. How did he make his escape? 12. How does Poe try to give an idea of the noise of the whirlpool? 13. How does it differ from Hawthorne’s description of the roar of Niagara? (See page 466.) 14. How had the “ordinary accounts of the vortex” prepared Poe to see it? 15. In what were these accounts of the vortex inadequate? 16. Compare this with Hawthorne’s statement concerning what he had read of Niagara. 17. From this story what do you think of Poe’s powers of imagination and description? 18. What other authors have you read that have similar powers? 19. Point out descriptions in this selection that you particularly like. 20. Pronounce the following: ungovernable; maelstrom; vortices; herbage; gauntlet; ague; buoyant. =Phrases= sheer unobstructed precipice, 192, 4 particularizing manner, 192, 18 deplorably desolate, 192, 29 precipitous descents, 194, 3 gleaming spray, 194, 15 terrific funnel, 194, 16 boisterous rapidity, 195, 10 fruitless struggles, 195, 26 flux and reflux, 195, 33 immediate vicinity, 196, 2 abyss of the whirl, 196, 8 plausible in perusal, 196, 18 collision of waves, 196, 21 desperate speculation, 197, 22 flood of golden glory, 204, 20 terrific grandeur, 204, 24 wide waste of liquid ebony, 205, 17 the gyrations of the whirl, 207, 37 THE WRECK OF THE GOLDEN MARY CHARLES DICKENS CHAPTER I—THE WRECK RAVENDER TAKES COMMAND OF THE GOLDEN MARY I was apprenticed to the Sea when I was twelve years old, and I have encountered a great deal of rough weather, both literal and metaphorical. It has always been my opinion since I first possessed such a thing as an opinion, that the man who knows only one subject is next tiresome to the man who knows no subject. Therefore, in the course of my life I have taught myself whatever I could, and although I am not an educated man, I am able, I am thankful to say, to have an intelligent interest in most things.