CHAPTER XXIV.
1. kedging: a way of moving a ship at anchor or aground by dropping a small anchor, the kedge, away from the ship and pulling the ship toward it.
CHAPTER XXVII.
1. Gil Blas: Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane (1715-35), French novel by Alain-René Lesage (1668-1747), depicting the adventures of a pliable young valet who learns from and surpasses the talents of his masters; translated into English by Tobias Smollet in 1749.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1. Pope to back him: presumably a reference to Alexander Pope (1688-1734), “Moral Essays: Epistle II, to Mrs. M. Blount.” For example, “Most women have no characters at all.”
2. “Forsitan et haec olim”: (Latin) “perhaps one day it will give us pleasure.”
CHAPTER XXIX.
1. Woodstock a novel by Sir Walter Scott published in 1826.
2. vi et armis: (Latin) “by force of arms.”
3. “the cry they heard—its meaning knew”: from Sir Walter Scott’s 1808 poem “Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field.”
CHAPTER XXXI.
1. fist the sail: to lay hold of or seize a sail by hand.
CHAPTER XXXII.
1. “thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice”: a line barely paraphrased from Shakespeare, Measure for Measure (Act 3, scene i, line 122).
CHAPTER XXXV.
1. scurvy: a disease now known to be caused by insufficient ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in the diet; attacks the gums, loosens teeth, and causes bleeding in the mucous membranes.
READING GROUP GUIDE
Discuss Dana’s motives for the voyage. What do you feel was the predominating factor in his decision to undertake such a journey? What were the risks involved, and how serious do you feel they were? What is your view of Dana’s momentous choice?
What do you make of Dana’s attitude toward religion, and religious instruction? Do you agree or not? Why? Is his a perspective that is anachronistic, or not?
How does social class play a role in the book? Discuss the implications of Dana’s background. How did it affect his experience on the ship? Did you find it important, or inconsequential?
What is your opinion of the book’s stark realism? Does Dana have an agenda in writing the book? If so, what is it? Do you think the experience was a positive one for Dana, or not?
What is the role of nature and the outdoors for Dana? How does he view the American West? How does his voyage attest to his view of the outdoors? Does this view change throughout his experience on the ship? If so, how?
Discuss the contrasts between Captain Thompson and Captain Faucon. How do their leadership skills differ? Who is more effective, and why? Discuss Dana’s book on a political level. What do his portrayals of each captain reveal?
Discuss the considerable shift in Dana’s perspective as evidenced in “Twenty-Four Years After.” How do you account for this change? Do you agree or disagree with the author’s decision to replace the original final chapter with this later account? Why or why not?
THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD
Maya Angelou
•
Daniel J. Boorstin
•
A. S. Byatt
•
Caleb Carr
•
Christopher Cerf
•
Ron Chernow
•
Shelby Foote
•
Stephen Jay Gould
•
Vartan Gregorian
•
Richard Howard
•
Charles Johnson
•
Jon Krakauer
•
Edmund Morris
•
Joyce Carol Oates
•
Elaine Pagels
•
John Richardson
•
Salman Rushdie
•
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
•
Carolyn See
•
William Styron
•
Gore Vidal
•
Introduction copyright © 2001 by Gary Kinder
Biographical note, notes, and reading-group guide
copyright © 2001 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882.
Two years before the mast : a personal narrative of life at sea / Richard Henry Dana; introduction by Gary Kinder; notes by Duncan Hasell.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-42487-7
1. Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882. 2. Pilgrim (Brig) 3. Alert (Brig : 1843-1862) 4. Voyages and travels. 5. Seafaring life. I. Title.
G540 .D2 2001
910.4’52—dc21 2001031243
Modern Library website address: www.modernlibrary.com
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