Skip to main content

How can I explain the title of "Inchcape Rock"?

The title of Robert Southey's poem "Inchcape Rock" is based on folktales surrounding a real reef in Scotland named Inchcape Rock or the Bell Rock. This reef is located in the North Sea, off the coast of Angus county. It was a major navigational hazard, responsible for over 100 shipwrecks in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The reason for this is that the reef is barely visible at low tide and completely submerged under water at high tide, making it invisible to mariners. 


The legend of the bell attributes its construction to the fourteenth century Abbot of Aberbrothok who placed the bell on a buoy above the reef, warning mariners of the unseen hazard. Southey's poem was written sometime between 1796 and 1798; it was not until 1807 that work began on a lighthouse to safeguard mariners from the reef. 


The title itself focuses our attention on the reef, itself a morally neutral natural object, that caused deaths to unwary seafarers, enabled the Abbot to expressed his good moral character, and was the means by which Sir Ralph lured mariners to their destruction and eventually himself to his own damnation. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more