Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Celebration of the Sperm Whale’s Tail

Celebration of the Sperm Whale’s Tail While other poets have sung the praises of the antelope’s soft eye and the plumage of the bird that never alights, this chapter celebrates a tail. The speaker claims less celestial subject matter than those predecessors, yet finds profound meaning in the sperm whale’s tail. This opening establishes the chapter’s central premise: that the whale’s tail deserves poetic attention comparable to the conventional objects of poetic admiration.

Sperm Whale Tail Size and Fluke Form

Sperm Whale Tail Size and Fluke Form The tail begins where the trunk tapers to a man’s girth and measures at least fifty square feet on its upper surface alone. Its root expands into two broad, firm, flat flukes that gradually thin to less than an inch in thickness. At the junction, the flukes slightly overlap before receding sideways like wings, leaving a wide vacancy between them. The crescentic borders of these flukes display some of the most exquisitely defined lines of beauty found in any living thing. When fully grown, the whale’s tail exceeds twenty feet across.

Triune Tail Structure and Roman Wall Parallel

Triune Tail Structure and Roman Wall Parallel The tail consists of three distinct strata: upper, middle, and lower. The upper and lower layers contain long, horizontal fibers, while the middle layer has very short fibers running crosswise between the outside layers. This triune structure particularly contributes to the tail’s power. Students of ancient Roman architecture will recognize a parallel to the thin courses of tiles alternating with stone in those ancient walls, which contributed so greatly to the masonry’s strength.