In one work, the narrator sees “dateless, indefinite endurance” in these animals, which he compares to “Roman Coliseums in magnificent decay.” For 10 points each:
[10h] Name these animals which the narrator of that work dreams of “sitting crosslegged” atop with “a Brahmin similarly mounted upon either side,” and the next evening happily eats a meal made from this animal.
ANSWER: tortoises [or turtles]
[10m] That work is “Sketch Second” from Herman Melville’s “The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles” which was later published in this collection along with “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno.”
ANSWER: The Piazza Tales
[10e] Many of the sketches in “The Encantadas” are prefaced by lines from this epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The lines prefacing “Sketch First” are taken from Canto IX of Book 1, in which the Redcrosse Knight confronts Despair.
ANSWER: The Faerie Queene
<Jay Kim, American Literature>