I've been reading Eveline by J. Joyce (It's about a young girl who wants to run away from home and town with her boyfriend Frank to Buenos Aires; he's a sailor and they would travel by ship — she finally decides not to leave which is seen in the following part) and in this paragraph:
A bell clanged upon her heart. She felt him seize her hand. "Come!" All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them; he would drown her. She gripped with both hands at the iron railing. "Come!" No! No! No!…
the verb + prepositional phrase, tumble about, is explained on the margin with "tumbled about – fell upon".
I'm not quite sure I understand this explanation. Tumble about means to either roll around, like sea would capture her heart and waves would roll around it, metaphorically, somehow… (?) If I took the explanation as true, it would be explained as the sea has accidentaly, unexpectedly, found her heart and therefore the feelings (of the sea towards her that cause her feelings towards the sea)…
Am I even close to explanation?
I need a further clarification. Thanks.
Best Answer
Tumble about means to either roll around, like sea would capture her heart and waves would roll around it, metaphorically
You are exactly right.
"tumble" here just means "to roll over and over, to and fro, or end over end", and "about" is used in the sense of "all around".
Think of waves in the ocean moving all around her heart, in all directions, crashing together (and of course figuratively!). Water is often a symbol of emotion. Here, Eveline is feeling overwhelmed and thus, at this very moment, is conflicted about whether she should go or not.
There is a word in English, "aflutter" (which means "nervously excited") that could describe Eveline's current state.
Note that a "flutter" (think of the movement of butterflies) is something we can feel in our heart:
I think it is this sensation that Joyce is alluding to.
(Note also that "A bell clanged upon her heart" is like the feeling of her heart jumping, or "skipping a beat", as Ronan points out).
"fell upon" is one way to interpret "tumble about", but really it's too simplistic. It doesn't capture the chaotic movement of the water, rather suggesting that it comes down in one action - which is not synonymous with "tumbling".