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Hawaii Surf

It was an epic jour­ney and we enjoyed eve­ry minute.

Nor does this – its ama­zing strength, at all tend to cripple the gra­ce­ful flexion of its motions; where infan­ti­le­ness of ease undu­lates through a Tita­nism of power. On the contra­ry, those motions derive their most appal­ling beau­ty from it. Real strength never impairs beau­ty or har­mo­ny, but it often bes­tows it; and in eve­ry­thing impo­sin­gly beau­ti­ful, strength has much to do with the magic. Take away the tied ten­dons that all over seem burs­ting from the marble in the car­ved Her­cules, and its charm would be gone. As devout Ecker­man lif­ted the linen sheet from the naked corpse of Goethe, he was overw­hel­med with the mas­sive chest of the man, that see­med as a Roman trium­phal arch. When Ange­lo paints even God the Father in human form, mark what robust­ness is there. And wha­te­ver they may reveal of the divine love in the Son, the soft, cur­led, her­ma­phro­di­ti­cal Ita­lian pic­tures, in which his idea has been most suc­cess­ful­ly embo­died; these pic­tures, so des­ti­tute as they are of all braw­ni­ness, hint nothing of any power, but the mere nega­tive, femi­nine one of sub­mis­sion and endu­rance, which on all hands it is conce­ded, form the pecu­liar prac­ti­cal vir­tues of his teachings.

But as if this vast local power in the ten­di­nous tail were not enough, the whole bulk of the levia­than is knit get­ting bet­ter eve­ry day.

Nor does this – its ama­zing strength, at all tend to cripple the gra­ce­ful flexion of its motions; where infan­ti­le­ness of ease undu­lates through a Tita­nism of power. On the contra­ry, those motions derive their most appal­ling beau­ty from it. Real strength never impairs beau­ty or har­mo­ny, but it often bes­tows it; and in eve­ry­thing impo­sin­gly beau­ti­ful, strength has much to do with the magic. Take away the tied ten­dons that all over seem burs­ting from the marble in the car­ved Her­cules, and its charm would be gone. As devout Ecker­man lif­ted the linen sheet from the naked corpse of Goethe, he was overw­hel­med with the mas­sive chest of the man, that see­med as a Roman trium­phal arch. When Ange­lo paints even God the Father in human form, mark what robust­ness is there. And wha­te­ver they may reveal of the divine love in the Son, the soft, cur­led, her­ma­phro­di­ti­cal Ita­lian pic­tures, in which his idea has been most suc­cess­ful­ly embo­died; these pic­tures, so des­ti­tute as they are of all braw­ni­ness, hint nothing of any power, but the mere nega­tive, femi­nine one of sub­mis­sion and endu­rance, which on all hands it is conce­ded, form the pecu­liar prac­ti­cal vir­tues of his teachings.

But as if this vast local power in the ten­di­nous tail were not enough, the whole bulk of the levia­than is knit get­ting bet­ter eve­ry day.

I have given no small atten­tion to that not unvexed sub­ject, the skin of the whale. I have had contro­ver­sies about it with expe­rien­ced wha­le­men afloat, and lear­ned natu­ra­lists ashore. My ori­gi­nal opi­nion remains unchan­ged; but it is only an opinion.

Nor does this – its ama­zing strength, at all tend to cripple the gra­ce­ful flexion of its motions; where infan­ti­le­ness of ease undu­lates through a Tita­nism of power. On the contra­ry, those motions derive their most appal­ling beau­ty from it. Real strength never impairs beau­ty or har­mo­ny, but it often bes­tows it; and in eve­ry­thing impo­sin­gly beau­ti­ful, strength has much to do with the magic. Take away the tied ten­dons that all over seem burs­ting from the marble in the car­ved Her­cules, and its charm would be gone. As devout Ecker­man lif­ted the linen sheet from the naked corpse of Goethe, he was overw­hel­med with the mas­sive chest of the man, that see­med as a Roman trium­phal arch. When Ange­lo paints even God the Father in human form, mark what robust­ness is there. And wha­te­ver they may reveal of the divine love in the Son, the soft, cur­led, her­ma­phro­di­ti­cal Ita­lian pic­tures, in which his idea has been most suc­cess­ful­ly embo­died; these pic­tures, so des­ti­tute as they are of all braw­ni­ness, hint nothing of any power, but the mere nega­tive, femi­nine one of sub­mis­sion and endu­rance, which on all hands it is conce­ded, form the pecu­liar prac­ti­cal vir­tues of his teachings.

Hawaii Surf | Lorens lecertua