"Ours is a world of words: Quiet we call 

 
Silence -- which is the merest word of all"
                                     -Al Aaraaf.
 Al Aaraaf
• a place where people who have been neither
markedly good nor markedly bad had to stay until
forgiven by God and let into Paradise (Sura 7 of the
Qur’an)
• “Its title is "Al Aaraaf" from the Al Aaraaf of the
Arabians, a medium between Heaven and Hell
where men suffer no punishment, but yet do not
attain that tranquil & even happiness which they
suppose to be the characteristics of heavenly
enjoyment” – Poe
 Simoon
•  "Listen to me," said the Demon, as he placed
his hand upon my head. "There is a spot upon
this accursed earth which thou hast never yet
beheld And if by any chance thou hast beheld
it, it must have been in one of those vigorous
dreams which come like the Simoon upon the
brain of the sleeper who hath lain down to
sleep among the forbidden sunbeams
“The Approach of the Simoom”
• "every appearance warranted me in apprehending
a Simoom.“ (Poe, “MS. Found in a Bottle”)
• "a whole myriad of little specks seemed to come
blowing in through the broken window, and
wheeling and circling round like the pillar of dust
that travellers describe when there is a simoom in
the desert.“ (Stoker, Dracula)
• "Stephen's heart withering up like a flower of the
desert that feels the simoom coming from afar.“
(Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)
 “The region of which I speak is a dreary region in Libya, by the
borders of the river Zaire. And there is no quiet there, nor silence.”

• The Congo River, formerly known as the Zaire

River, is the second longest river in Africa,
shorter only than the Nile, as well as the
second largest river in the world by discharge
volume, following only the Amazon.
 “But there is no wind throughout the heaven. And by the
shores of the river Zaire there is neither quiet nor silence.”
“oh! they were more beautiful than the airy dreams which
hovered about the souls of the daughters of Delos!”

• Anius was the son Apollo. He was the king of Delos

and a priest of Apollo. He married Dorippe, a
Thracian woman who was kidnapped by pirates and
sold to Anius for the price of one horse. Together
they had three daughters, Oeno, Spermo, and Elais.
• The three daughters were known as the
Oenotropae, and could change anything into wine,
wheat, and oil. This ability was given to them by
Dionysus, the god of wine