Not P but Moby-Dick (4)

[Ian Livingston]

Also, I think, a bit of a pun in each term, glob(ular) and globe alike
reflecting the world-travelling brain (mind) of the sailor; and "ponderous"
alluding to the dark moodiness often associated with the wearily
contemplative soul in those "long night-watches." As I recall, Melville had
some experience on a whaler.

On Wed, Aug 16, 2023 at 4:30 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The following excerpt is from Chapter 16:
>
> still, from the audacious, daring, and boundless adventure of their
> subsequent lives, strangely blend with these unoutgrown peculiarities, a
> thousand bold dashes of character, not unworthy a Scandinavian sea-king, or
> a poetical Pagan Roman. And when these things unite in a man of greatly
> superior natural force, with a globular brain and a ponderous heart; who
> has also by the stillness and seclusion of many long night-watches in the
> remotest waters, and beneath constellations never seen here at the north,
> been led to think untraditionally and independently;
>
> What does "globular" and "ponderous" mean here?
> --
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>