Five years ago I read Herman Melville's Moby Dick for a class (high school). My peers and I would groan due to the length and occasional slow chapter but, it is one of the most memorable books that I have ever read. Melville's use of allusion and metaphor is genius, see here:

“Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure. Consider also the devilish brilliance and beauty of many of its most remorseless tribes, as the dainty embellished shape of many species of sharks. Consider, once more, the universal cannibalism of the sea; all whose creatures prey upon each other, carrying on eternal war since the world began. 

Consider all this; and then turn to the green, gentle, and most docile earth; consider them both, the sea and the land; and do you not find a strange analogy to something in yourself? For as this appalling ocean surrounds the verdant land, so in the soul of man there lies one insular Tahiti, full of peace and joy, but encompassed by all the horrors of the half-known life. God keep thee! Push not off from that isle, thou canst never return!”

Herman Melville- Moby Dick

Here is my personal original art, 'Tahiti'.  It is very basic and hardly worth the Melville reference but, still makes me ponder greater ideas. I could see myself making another piece with reference to Melville...

![20170228_172706.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQ1B9hae1rnoGjLwp6f9Gaojh97ZRh9SjqKa7rKyqSy8M/20170228_172706.jpg)