Francis Bacon, Essays, Of Travel (1625)
“It is a strange thing, that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in land-travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it; as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italian Journey, Sea Voyage from Naples to Sicily (1787)
At Sea, March 29. Throughout the night the ship made its quiet progress. The cabins below deck are pleasant and furnished with single berths. Our fellow passengers, opera singers and dancers with engagements in Palermo, are gay and well behaved.
At Sea, March 30. The sun sank into the sea accompanied by clouds and a streak of purple light a mile long… I was not to enjoy this gorgeous sight for long before I was overcome by seasickness. I retired to my cabin, assumed a horizontal position … and soon felt quite snug. Isolated from the outside world, I let my thoughts run freely on the inner one, and … set myself forthwith a serious task … the first two acts of Tasso. These, though roughly similar in plot and action to the ones I have now done, were written ten years ago in a poetic prose. I found them too weak and nebulous, but these defects vanished when, in accordance with my present ideas, I introduced a metre and let the form dominate.
At Sea, March 31. I remained in my horizontal position, revolving and reviving my play in my mind.
At Sea, April 1. By three in the morning, it was blowing a gale. Half awake, half asleep, I kept thinking about my drama… By noon we could make out the promontories and bays of the Sicilian coast, but the ship had fallen considerably to leeward. Now and then we tacked… Once in a while I ventured on deck but kept my poetic project always in mind – by now I had almost mastered the whole play.
At Sea, April 2. By eight in the morning we stood directly opposite Palermo. I was in high spirits. During these last days in the belly of the whale, I have made considerable progress in planning my play. I felt so well that I was able to stand on the foredeck and devote my attention to the coast of Sicily.
Palermo, April 2. Instead of hurrying impatiently ashore, we remained on deck until we were driven off. It might be long before we could again enjoy such a treat for the eyes from such a vantage point… For an artist, there was an inexhaustible wealth of vistas to me seen, and we studied them one by one with an eye to pointing them all.
Palermo, April 3. Here are a few more notes, hastily thrown together: If anything was ever a decisive event for me, it is this trip. No one who has never seen himself surrounded on all sides by nothing but the sea can have a true conception of the world and of his own relation to it… Forgive my scribbling with a blunt pen dipped in the sepia which my friend uses when he retraces his drawings. It will come to you like a whisper while I am preparing another memorial to these happy hours. I shan’t tell you what it is, and I can’t tell you when you will receive it.
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