The Odyssey, by Homer Odysseus and his crew have sails on their boat, but the heroes also need to man their oars. In many of their most testing ordeals they are rowing. Thus Circe's advice about how to deal with the Sirens: "Plug your comrades' ears with softened beeswax lest they listen, and row swiftly past."
A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, by Thomas Middleton They don't exactly row on stage in Middleton's city comedy, but the play ends with a chase sequence along the Thames, as Yellowhammer, the city goldsmith, tries to catch his eloping daughter, Moll. It is his watermen against hers. Follow that boat!
"Bermudas", by Andrew Marvell Out in the far Atlantic, "Where the remote Bermudas ride", the listening winds receive this song "From a small boat, that rowed along". To the beat of the oars, "Thus sung they, in the English boat, / An holy and a cheerful note; / And all the way, to guide their chime, / With falling oars they kept the time".
Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens As the novel begins, Lizzie Hexam is rowing her father between Southwark Bridge and London Bridge. She is "pulling a pair of sculls very easily"; he is keeping "an eager look out". "With every lithe action of the girl, with every turn of her wrist, perhaps most of all with her look of dread or horror" you can see that their activity is habitual. What are they doing? Looking for corpses.
The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot Growing up next to the River Floss, Maggie Tulliver is adept with the oars. One day she goes on a rowing trip with Stephen, her best friend's boyfriend, and as their boat glides down the stream the outing becomes an elopement. Then, when the river floods, she takes to her rowing boat to find her brother, with disastrous consequences.
Thérèse Racquin, by Emile Zola Thérèse is unhappily married to Camille. She and her lover Laurent plot to murder him. Camille is terrified of deep water. So down to the Seine they go. "I say, Camille, let us go for a pull on the river before sitting down to table". They select the lightest skiff and a few paragraphs later, oops . . .
Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K Jerome J and his two friends, plus Montmorency the dog, "skiff" up the Thames to Oxford. They are all feeling "seedy", and a rowing trip is to be the antidote. It will also allow some peacocking. "The river affords a good opportunity for dress. For once in a way, we men are able to show our taste in colours, and I think we come out very natty, if you ask me." Their subsequent mishaps do indeed cure them of melancholy.
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame "Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." Unworldly Mole meets faux sophisticate Rat, and is invited into his new friend's boat. "It was painted blue outside and white within, and was just the size for two animals; and the Mole's whole heart went out to it at once, even though he did not yet fully understand its uses." Off we go!
Five on a Treasure Island, by Enid Blyton Oh for the days when children could go rowing unsupervised (and on the sea, to boot)! Aged between 10 and 12, our infant heroes and heroines think nothing of rowing around Kirrin Island, off the West Country coast, in search of treasure. Don't worry: they all swim like fish – even the dog.
The Talented Mr Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith Tom and rich Dickie decide to go for a little row off the Amalfi coast. What could be nicer? Except that it is rather hot and tempers fray, and isolated by all that sea water, a few home truths get told. And then conscience-less Tom decides there is another possible use for his oar . . . JM
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