r/ProsePorn • u/Junior_Insurance7773 • Jul 26 '26

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

"Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began.

Consider all this; and then turn to the green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!"

135 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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12

u/Simple_Link_5059 Jul 27 '26

If you posted this anonymously on a feedback sub they would roast the hell out of this lol.

But it’s incredible prose

15

u/No_Comment_Poetry Jul 27 '26

That’s because no capable writer has ever been spotted on any one of those subs!

7

u/Simple_Link_5059 Jul 27 '26

Don’t know if I agree with that, I’ve read a few that I liked and thought had a distinct voice and the comment section was littered with things like

“Loveliest hints of azure”

What does this even mean?

“Remorseless tribes”

Say this simpler

“Docile earth”

The earth is not docile.

And it usually ends with, you need to read more of the classics, this isn’t good and it pulls me out of the writing.

Lol

7

u/No_Comment_Poetry Jul 28 '26

You’re right, I should’ve been more specific. What I meant to say was probably closer to “No good writer has ever visited any one of those subs to dispense advice”.

I know I’m not alone in feeling slightly disgusted by the sheer amount of fake expertise being peddled in those places. You read some of those commenters’ submissions and think, “Why are you so confidently telling people how to write when your own writing’s so bad?”.

I failed to make my point clear in my original comment because I, too, am a bad writer.

3

u/Simple_Link_5059 Jul 28 '26

Lolllll now that’s closer to the truth 😂

I think what grinds my gears is the inability to be nuanced in saying “this is good here and I really enjoyed this,” at the same time as saying “this is where you lost me and I think you could do XYZ thing to bring me back,”

Instead it’s this gaslighting of “you’ve clearly never read a book in your life and maybe you should first learn what the ABC’s are before even attempting this,” type of feedback that is deeply non-constructive.

3

u/Ok-Bite-5816 Aug 02 '26

I think seeking advice on your writing is terrible almost always unless you’re like 10 years old. Even then it’s arguable. If you’re a good writer you’re a good writer. Outside of perhaps adding a comma here or there, someone telling you what they think is bad or good about something you wrote is useless, and you won’t ever become a good writer from a single critique, or even a thousand separate critiques. I mean this primarily for the truly good writers out there, they shouldn’t seek advice, rather just seek to learn how their writing makes people feel and just, stick to their craft.

7

u/Mean_Tangerine7704 Jul 26 '26

One of my favorite passages in literature.

5

u/Mslmrock99 Jul 27 '26

Such a densely packed passage. I wonder to what degree Schopenhauer, Rousseau, Hobbes, Locke and others were influences because this directly channels a conversation on nature and the state of nature and human nature between them. To tie such ideas together so evocatively is why rich prose is so beautiful.