But, Lord, thise grisly feendly rokkes blake,
That semen rather a foul confusion
Of werk than any fair creacion
Of swich a parfit wys God and a stable,
Why han ye wroght this werk unresonable?
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Franklin’s Tale. Dorigen is distressed by the grisly, black rocks near to the shore, where so many lives have been lost. Apprehensive for her husband’s safety, she fears that whatever ship takes home could crash on these fiendish rocks and sink.