'But how we boom through the billows!' cried Jack, gazing over the top-rail; then, flinging forth his arm, recited:' "Aslope, and gliding on the leeward side, The bounding vessel cuts the roaring tide."Camoens! White Jacket, Camoens! Did you ever read him? The Lusiad, I mean? It's the man-of-war epic of the world, my lad. Give me Gama for a commodore, say I—noble Gama! And Mickle, White Jacket, did you ever read of him? William Julius Mickle? Camoens's translator? A disappointed man, though, White Jacket. Besides his version of The Lusiad, he wrote many forgotten things. Did you ever see his ballad of "Cumnor Hall"?—No?—Why, it gave Sir Walter Scott the hint of Kenilworth. My father knew Mickle when he went to sea on board the old Romney man-of-war...'

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "'But how we boom through the billows!' cried Jack, gazing over the top-rail; then, flinging forth his arm, recited:' "Aslope, and gliding on the leeward side, The bounding vessel cuts the roaring tide."Camoens! White Jacket, Camoens! Did you ever read him? The Lusiad, I mean? It's the man-of-war epic of the world, my lad. Give me Gama for a commodore, say I—noble Gama! And Mickle, White Jacket, did you ever read of him? William Julius Mickle? Camoens's translator? A disappointed man, though, White Jacket. Besides his version of The Lusiad, he wrote many forgotten things. Did you ever see his ballad of "Cumnor Hall"?—No?—Why, it gave Sir Walter Scott the hint of Kenilworth. My father knew Mickle when he went to sea on board the old Romney man-of-war...'" in the context of "Herman Melville, White-Jacket (1850), Ch. 65, p. 259" to mean that wisdom is timeless.