Can't make sense of a paragraph from Lovecraft












0















I decided to start reading some work of Lovecraft, then I got stuck at the first paragraph I encountered:




The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.




I think I managed to understand each separate clauses, but the logical relationship among them get me really confused.



I have no idea why the author used "yet" "for" and "but" at the place where I marked them in boldface. I also don't know why he wrote "my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief", which means "my reason could not hold unbelif" if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't he express something like "my reason could not hold belif"?



I'm feeling kind of frustrated now, could anyone help me figure it out?









share



























    0















    I decided to start reading some work of Lovecraft, then I got stuck at the first paragraph I encountered:




    The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.




    I think I managed to understand each separate clauses, but the logical relationship among them get me really confused.



    I have no idea why the author used "yet" "for" and "but" at the place where I marked them in boldface. I also don't know why he wrote "my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief", which means "my reason could not hold unbelif" if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't he express something like "my reason could not hold belif"?



    I'm feeling kind of frustrated now, could anyone help me figure it out?









    share

























      0












      0








      0


      1






      I decided to start reading some work of Lovecraft, then I got stuck at the first paragraph I encountered:




      The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.




      I think I managed to understand each separate clauses, but the logical relationship among them get me really confused.



      I have no idea why the author used "yet" "for" and "but" at the place where I marked them in boldface. I also don't know why he wrote "my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief", which means "my reason could not hold unbelif" if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't he express something like "my reason could not hold belif"?



      I'm feeling kind of frustrated now, could anyone help me figure it out?









      share














      I decided to start reading some work of Lovecraft, then I got stuck at the first paragraph I encountered:




      The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.




      I think I managed to understand each separate clauses, but the logical relationship among them get me really confused.



      I have no idea why the author used "yet" "for" and "but" at the place where I marked them in boldface. I also don't know why he wrote "my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief", which means "my reason could not hold unbelif" if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't he express something like "my reason could not hold belif"?



      I'm feeling kind of frustrated now, could anyone help me figure it out?







      meaning-in-context conjunctions literature paragraphs





      share












      share










      share



      share










      asked 4 mins ago









      Censi LICensi LI

      1208




      1208






















          0






          active

          oldest

          votes











          Your Answer








          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "97"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });














          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f489026%2fcant-make-sense-of-a-paragraph-from-lovecraft%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          0






          active

          oldest

          votes








          0






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes
















          draft saved

          draft discarded




















































          Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f489026%2fcant-make-sense-of-a-paragraph-from-lovecraft%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          Усть-Каменогорск

          Халкинская богословская школа

          Where does the word Sparryheid come from and mean?