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"The West Wind keeps faith with his brother, the King of the Easterly weather. "What we have divided we have divided," he seems to say in his gruff voice, this ruler without guile, who hurls as if in sport enormous masses of cloud across the sky, and flings the great waves of the Atlantic clear across from the shores of the New World upon the hoary headlands of Old Europe, which harbours more kings and rulers upon its seamed and furrowed body than all the oceans of the world together. "What we have divided we have divided; and if no rest and peace in this world have fallen to my share, leave me alone. Let me play at quoits with cyclonic gales, flinging the discs of spinning cloud and whirling air from one end of my dismal kingdom to the other: over the Great Banks or along the edges of pack-ice - this one with true aim right into the bight of the Bay of Biscay, that other upon the fiords of Norway, across the North Sea where the fishermen of many nations look watchfully into my angry eye. This is the time of kingly sport."

The Mirror of the Sea is based on a collection of autobiographical essays first published in various magazines 1904-6 . Early in his life Joseph Conrad earned his keep as a Master Mariner in sailing ships. In his 'Author's Note' to this work, Conrad states,"Beyond the line of the sea horizon the world for me did n not exist .Within these pages I make a full confession not of my sins but of my emotions. It is the best tribute my piety can offer to the ultimate shapers of my character, convictions, and, in a sense, destiny---to the imperishable sea, to the ships that are no more, and to the simple men who have had their day. "
Conrad's masterful prose reaches poetic heights in these essays. ( )

Autobiographically inclined best describes the vignettes Conrad presents in this volume. Several of them form an arc of connected stories. All are descriptive of the ocean, the age of sail, and the men who served aboard the ships of that era. Conrad writes most majestically of the end of the age of sail, contrasting the emotional heart of sailing ships with the cold impersonal nature he saw accompanying the age of steam. So, it's no coincidence that the last pages of the book focus on Lord Nelson, the most romantic of British heroes coming out of that age.

There is something else. This volume should be read after perusing most of the rest of Conrad's work. That is, if you want to find hints and clues to the storylines he had already written by 1906 and was to write soon thereafter. For they are secreted away here, sometimes in a few lines, often in imagery, and frequently in plot. ( )

Una raccolta di divagazioni a metà tra il saggio, il racconto e il diario che rivelano la sostanziale identità tra vita marinara e scrittura che caratterizza l'opera di Conrad.
In queste pagine ripercorriamo l'apprendistato di uomo di mare dello scrittore, l'esperienza a bordo, le tecniche di navigazione, la passione profonda per la vela. In uno scritto a prefazione di una delle edizioni di questa opera egli affermava che "Lo specchio del mare" era il miglior tributo che la sua devozione poteva offrire a ciò che aveva formato il suo destino : "il mare imperituro". ( )