Named source · 1849

The English Mail-Coach Quotes by Thomas De Quincey: Context & Meanings

1 quotation linked to The English Mail-Coach by or associated with Thomas De Quincey, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

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Thomas De Quincey’s literary essay The English Mail-Coach, represented in Project Gutenberg’s The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc

Topics and ideas

Travel, speed, memory, fear, dreams, national communication, near-collision and the transformation of recollection into ornate prose.

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Represented passages

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The moments were numbered; the strife was finished; the vision was closed.

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“The moments were numbered; the strife was finished; the vision was closed.”

Thomas De Quincey

Voice: Authorial / signed preface voice · Thomas De Quincey (first-person essay narrator)

Meaning & context

The compressed sentence captures the instant in which a terrifying encounter becomes irreversible memory, emphasizing how abruptly danger can pass into recollection.

Source details

The English Mail-Coach, represented by Project Gutenberg #6359 in the volume The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc. The sentence follows the near-collision / dream-fugue sequence and is highly literary first-person prose, not an objective report of measured time.

Thomas De Quincey’s literary essay The English Mail-Coach, represented in Project Gutenberg’s The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc

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