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About This Passage
These two sentences are the chapter's verdict on the phantom Auroras. Notice how the first sentence piles up the proofs of thoroughness — 'diagonal courses,' a constant look-out, 'the greatest care,' three full weeks, 'no haze whatsoever' — so that the steady, accumulating clauses themselves enact the patience of the search. Only then does the second sentence deliver the calm, confident conclusion. Copying it shows how a writer can earn a claim through careful method before he states it.
We then took diagonal courses throughout the entire extent of sea circumscribed, keeping a look-out constantly at the masthead, and repeating our examination with the greatest care for a period of thr...
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Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell this chapter in order: how the Jane Guy sails from Christmas Harbor to the tall islands of Tristan da Cunha, how the crew finds a small settlement there under its self-styled governor, Glass, and takes on food and seal-skins, and how the ship then sails off to hunt for a group of islands called the Auroras, searching the sea for three weeks until the crew is certain the islands do not exist. Pause where the chapter most surprises you and explain why.
Discussion Questions
- On Tristan da Cunha, Jonathan Lambert once 'called himself the sovereign of the country,' and later Glass claimed to be 'supreme governor,' though no one had appointed either man. Why do you think remote, ungoverned places so often produce self-made rulers? Use details from the chapter.
- Although some navigators 'declare positively that they have seen' the Auroras, Captain Guy spends three weeks crossing and recrossing the sea and finds 'no vestige' of any island. What might Poe be showing about the gap between what people claim and what can be proven? Use details from the chapter.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A supreme ruler, such as a king or queen.
Item 2
A trace or remnant of something that no longer exists.
Item 3
A disagreement or argument over what is true.
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Critical Thinking
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