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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
The Window, 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Waves:
The sea is a recurring symbol in To the Lighthouse, and a recurring motif that establishes this symbol is the waves on the shore of Skye. Woolf frequently invokes waves as comparands in metaphor and simile, as in Chapter 3 of "The Window":
...the monotonous fall of the waves on the beach, which for the most part beat a measured and soothing tattoo to her thoughts and seemed consolingly to repeat over and over again as she sat with the children the words of some old cradle song, murmured by nature, 'I am guarding you - I am your support,' but at other times suddenly and unexpectedly, especially when her mind raised itself slightly from the task actually in hand, had no such kindly meaning, but like a ghostly roll of drums remorselessly beat the measure of life...
Here, waves are a measure of time, a guaranteed rhythm, the passing of which is at times soothing and at times sinister; the sound of the waves on the shore will never cease. As is the case in many of Woolf's metaphors, this passage morphs into a reflection on the meaning of life itself: how must we live when the constant ticking of time is simultaneously reassuring and mortally terrifying?
In Chapter 9 of "The Window," Woolf changes the comparative power of waves to represent the assemblage of an entire life from discrete moments:
And what was even more exciting, she felt... how life, from being made up of little separate incidents which one lived one by one, became curled and whole like a wave which bore one up with it and threw one down with it, there, with a dash on the beach.
In this simile, Lily Briscoe compares her movement through life, moment to moment, to the way that a wave assembles itself from the sea and carries one onto the shore. As Lily feels it, the meaning of life—the shape of this wave—is inextricable from the individual moments of time. In fact, the little incidents are the very things that give the wave its shape. This metaphor illustrates a central theme in To the Lighthouse: one's experience of time directly effects one's sense of purpose and one's understanding of life's meaning.
Related Themes:
The Window, 9
Explanation and Analysis—The Waves:
The sea is a recurring symbol in To the Lighthouse, and a recurring motif that establishes this symbol is the waves on the shore of Skye. Woolf frequently invokes waves as comparands in metaphor and simile, as in Chapter 3 of "The Window":
...the monotonous fall of the waves on the beach, which for the most part beat a measured and soothing tattoo to her thoughts and seemed consolingly to repeat over and over again as she sat with the children the words of some old cradle song, murmured by nature, 'I am guarding you - I am your support,' but at other times suddenly and unexpectedly, especially when her mind raised itself slightly from the task actually in hand, had no such kindly meaning, but like a ghostly roll of drums remorselessly beat the measure of life...
Here, waves are a measure of time, a guaranteed rhythm, the passing of which is at times soothing and at times sinister; the sound of the waves on the shore will never cease. As is the case in many of Woolf's metaphors, this passage morphs into a reflection on the meaning of life itself: how must we live when the constant ticking of time is simultaneously reassuring and mortally terrifying?
In Chapter 9 of "The Window," Woolf changes the comparative power of waves to represent the assemblage of an entire life from discrete moments:
And what was even more exciting, she felt... how life, from being made up of little separate incidents which one lived one by one, became curled and whole like a wave which bore one up with it and threw one down with it, there, with a dash on the beach.
In this simile, Lily Briscoe compares her movement through life, moment to moment, to the way that a wave assembles itself from the sea and carries one onto the shore. As Lily feels it, the meaning of life—the shape of this wave—is inextricable from the individual moments of time. In fact, the little incidents are the very things that give the wave its shape. This metaphor illustrates a central theme in To the Lighthouse: one's experience of time directly effects one's sense of purpose and one's understanding of life's meaning.
Related Themes:
