The Ghost World

CHAPTER I

THE SOUL'S EXIT

In the Iliad,[1] after the spirit of Patroclus has visited Achilles in his dream, it is described as taking its departure, and entering the ground like smoke. In long after years, and among widely scattered communities, we meet with the same imagery; and it is recorded how the soul of Beowulf the Goth 'curled to the clouds,' imaging the...