Maximum-assistance view: every word above everyday vocabulary is explained at every appearance; each name is introduced at its first appearance in the chapter.

Letter 2

To Mrs. Saville, England. (To Mrs Saville, the writer's sister, in England)

Archangel, 28th March, 17—. (Written from Archangel, the far northern Russian port, at the end of March)

How slowly the time passes here, encompassed as I am by frost and snow (How slowly the time passes here, closed in as I am by frost and snow)! Yet a second step is taken towards my enterprise (Yet a second step is taken towards my venture). I have hired a vessel and am occupied in collecting my sailors (I have hired a ship and am busy gathering my sailors); those whom I have already engaged appear to be men on whom I can depend and are certainly possessed of dauntless courage (those I have already taken on seem to be men I can lean on, and certainly have courage that nothing can frighten).

But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as a most severe evil (But I have one need I have never yet been able to fill, and the lack of it I now feel as a most heavy evil), I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success (when I am glowing with the eager joy of success), there will be none to participate my joy (I have no friend, Margaret. When I am glowing with the eager fire of success, there will be no one to share my joy); if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavour to sustain me in dejection (if disappointment falls on me, no one will try to hold me up in my low spirits). I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium (it is true, but that is a poor carrier) for the communication of feeling (I shall put my thoughts down on paper, it is true, but paper is a poor carrier of feeling). I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me, whose eyes would reply to mine (I long for the company of a man who could feel with me, whose eyes would answer mine). You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend (You may judge me a dreamer, my dear sister, but I feel the lack of a friend bitterly). I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans (I have no one near me who is gentle yet brave, with a mind both well schooled and roomy, whose tastes are like my own, to approve my plans or set them right). How would such a friend repair the faults of your poor brother (How such a friend would mend the faults of your poor brother)! I am too ardent in execution and too impatient of difficulties (I burn too hot in carrying things out, and have too little patience with difficulties). But it is a still greater evil to me that I am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on a common and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas’ books of voyages (But a still greater evil to me is that I taught myself. For the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on open ground and read nothing but our Uncle Thomas's books of sea voyages). At that age I became acquainted with the celebrated poets of our own country (At that age I came to know the famous poets of our own country); but it was only when it had ceased to be in my power to derive its most important benefits from such a conviction that I perceived the necessity of becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my native country (but only when it was too late to draw the greatest good from the knowledge did I see the need of learning more languages than my own country's). Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen (Now I am twenty-eight, and in truth less book-learned than many schoolboys of fifteen). It is true that I have thought more and that my daydreams are more extended and magnificent, but they want (as the painters call it) keeping; (It is true I have thought more, and my waking dreams are wider and grander, but they lack what the painters call keeping, the balance that holds a picture together) and I greatly need a friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind (I greatly need a friend with sense enough not to look down on me as a dreamer, and love enough for me to try to bring my mind into order).

Well, these are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen (Well, these are useless complaints. I shall surely find no friend on the wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel among traders and sailors). Yet some feelings, unallied to the dross of human nature, beat even in these rugged bosoms (Yet some feelings, untouched by the base waste matter of human nature, beat even in these rough hearts). My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of wonderful courage and enterprise; he is madly desirous of glory (My second-in-command, for one, is a man of wonderful courage and daring. He is madly hungry for glory), or rather, to word my phrase more characteristically, of advancement in his profession (or rather, to put it more truly to the man, hungry to rise in his working line). He is an Englishman, and in the midst of national and professional prejudices, unsoftened by cultivation, retains some of the noblest endowments of humanity (He is an Englishman, and in the middle of his country's and his trade's fixed one-sided views, unsoftened by fine schooling, he keeps some of the noblest gifts of human nature). I first became acquainted with him on board a whale vessel; finding that he was unemployed in this city, I easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise (I first came to know him on board a whale ship. Finding him without work in this city, I easily took him on to help in my venture).

The master is a person of an excellent disposition and is remarkable in the ship for his gentleness and the mildness of his discipline (The sailing master, the officer who works the ship, is a man of excellent nature, and is marked out on board for his gentleness and the mildness of his rule). This circumstance, added to his well-known integrity and dauntless courage, made me very desirous to engage him (This, added to his well-known honesty and fearless courage, made me very eager to take him on) (made me very eager to take him on). A youth passed in solitude, my best years spent under your gentle and feminine fosterage, has so refined the groundwork of my character that I cannot overcome an intense distaste to the usual brutality exercised on board ship (A youth passed alone, my best years spent under your gentle womanly care, has so softened the base of my nature that I cannot get over a deep distaste for the usual cruelty practised on board ship): I have never believed it to be necessary, and when I heard of a mariner equally noted for his kindliness of heart and the respect and obedience paid to him by his crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his services (when I heard of a seaman known equally for his kind heart and for the respect and obedience his crew give him, I felt myself specially lucky to be able to get him). I heard of him first in rather a romantic manner, from a lady who owes to him the happiness of her life (I first heard of him in rather a storybook way, from a lady who owes him the happiness of her life). This, briefly, is his story (This, in short, is his story). Some years ago he loved a young Russian lady of moderate fortune, and having amassed a considerable sum in prize-money, the father of the girl consented to the match (Some years ago he loved a young Russian lady of middling wealth, and as he had piled up a good sum in captured-ship money, the girl's father agreed to the marriage). He saw his mistress once before the destined ceremony; but she was bathed in tears, and throwing herself at his feet, entreated him to spare her (He saw his promised lady once before the appointed wedding. But she was bathed in tears, and throwing herself at his feet, begged him to let her go), confessing at the same time that she loved another, but that he was poor, and that her father would never consent to the union (admitting at the same time that she loved another man, but that he was poor, and her father would never agree to the joining). My generous friend reassured the suppliant, and on being informed of the name of her lover, instantly abandoned his pursuit (My open-handed friend calmed the begging girl, and on being told the name of the man she loved, gave up his suit at once). He had already bought a farm with his money, on which he had designed to pass the remainder of his life (He had already bought a farm with his money, where he had planned to spend the rest of his life); but he bestowed the whole on his rival, together with the remains of his prize-money to purchase stock (together with what remained of his captured-ship reward money to buy farm animals), and then himself solicited the young woman’s father (and then himself pressed the young woman's father) to consent to her marriage with her lover (but he gave the whole of it to the other man, together with what was left of his captured-ship money to buy farm animals, and then himself pressed the young woman's father to agree to her marrying the man she loved). But the old man decidedly refused, thinking himself bound in honour to my friend, who, when he found the father inexorable, quitted his country (But the old man flatly refused, holding himself bound in honour to my friend, who, finding the father would not be moved, left his country), nor returned until he heard that his former mistress was married according to her inclinations (and did not come back until he heard that his once promised lady was married as her heart wished). “What a noble fellow!” you will exclaim. He is so; but then he is wholly uneducated (He is so. But then he is wholly unschooled): he is as silent as a Turk, and a kind of ignorant carelessness attends him (What a noble fellow, you will cry. He is. But then he is wholly unschooled. He is as silent as a Turk, and a kind of unknowing carelessness hangs about him), which, while it renders his conduct the more astonishing, detracts from the interest and sympathy which otherwise he would command (which, while it makes his conduct the more astonishing, takes away from the interest and fellow feeling he would otherwise call up).

Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I can conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am wavering in my resolutions (Yet do not suppose, because I complain a little, or because I can picture a comfort for my hard labours that I may never know, that my set purposes are shaking). Those are as fixed as fate (Those stand as fixed as fate itself), and my voyage is only now delayed until the weather shall permit my embarkation (Those are as fixed as fate, and my voyage is only put off now until the weather allows my setting sail). The winter has been dreadfully severe, but the spring promises well (but the spring gives good promise), and it is considered as a remarkably early season (The winter has been dreadfully hard, but the spring promises well, and everyone counts it a remarkably early season), so that perhaps I may sail sooner than I expected. I shall do nothing rashly: you know me sufficiently to confide in my prudence and considerateness whenever the safety of others is committed to my care (I shall do nothing in blind haste. You know me well enough to trust my carefulness and thought for others whenever their safety is placed in my hands).

I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my undertaking (I cannot describe to you what I feel with my venture now so near). It is impossible to communicate to you a conception of the trembling sensation, half pleasurable and half fearful, with which I am preparing to depart (It is impossible to give you any idea of the trembling feeling, half pleasure and half fear, with which I am making ready to leave). I am going to unexplored regions, to “the land of mist and snow,” but I shall kill no albatross (I am going to lands no one has mapped, to the land of mist and snow of the poem, but I shall kill no albatross, the great white sea bird of that story); therefore do not be alarmed for my safety or if I should come back to you as worn and woeful as the “Ancient Mariner.” (so do not fear for my safety, or that I should come back to you as worn and sorrow-laden as the Ancient Mariner, the cursed sailor of the poem) You will smile at my allusion, but I will disclose a secret (You will smile at my nod to the poem, but I will let out a secret). I have often attributed my attachment to, my passionate enthusiasm for, the dangerous mysteries of ocean to that production of the most imaginative of modern poets (I have often traced my love for the dangerous mysteries of the ocean, my burning passion for them, to that work of the most imagination-rich of the poets of our day). There is something at work in my soul which I do not understand (There is something at work in my soul that I do not understand). I am practically industrious—painstaking, a workman to execute with perseverance and labour—but besides this there is a love for the marvellous, a belief in the marvellous, intertwined in all my projects (I am hard working in practical things, careful, a workman who carries a task through with steady effort. But besides this there is a love of the wonderful, a belief in the wonderful, woven through all my plans), which hurries me out of the common pathways of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited regions I am about to explore (which hurries me off the common paths of men, even to the wild sea and unvisited lands I am about to search out).

But to return to dearer considerations. Shall I meet you again (Shall I meet you again), after having traversed immense seas, and returned by the most southern cape of Africa or America (But back to dearer matters. Shall I meet you again, after crossing huge seas and coming home round the southern point of Africa or America)? I dare not expect such success, yet I cannot bear to look on the reverse of the picture (I dare not count on such success, yet I cannot bear to look at the picture's other side). Continue for the present to write to me by every opportunity: I may receive your letters on some occasions when I need them most to support my spirits (Keep writing to me for now by every chance that offers. I may get your letters at moments when I need them most to hold up my spirits). I love you very tenderly. Remember me with affection, should you never hear from me again (I love you very tenderly. Remember me with love, should you never hear from me again).

Your affectionate brother, Robert Walton (Your loving brother, Robert Walton)