Melville as poet : the art of "pulsed life" / edited by Sanford E. Marovitz.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Marovitz, Sanford E., editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Criticism and interpretation.

Melville, Herman.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 268 pages)

Place of Publication:

Kent, Ohio : The Kent State University Press, [2013]

Summary:

Herman Melvilles literary reputation is based chiefly on his fiction, especially Moby-Dick and Billy Budd. Yet he was a gifted poet, as evidenced by his collection of Civil War poems, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), and by his epic-length poem, Clarel (1876), a symbolic rendering of his pilgrimage of 185657 to the Holy Land, as well as the two small volumes of poems he published before his death in 1891. Melville as Poet: The Art of Pulsed Life opens with an introduction by Sanford E. Marovitz and the late Douglas Robillard on Melvilles conception of poetry as a literary form. The essays begin with Dennis Bertholds study of how Melvilles observations of art at New Yorks National Academy of Design in 1865 are reflected in Battle-Pieces, and Mary K. Bercaw Edwards follows, describing how the nautical combat of the ironclads Monitor and Merrimack became a subject of wide contemporary interest in popular culture. The next three essays focus on Clarel. Peter Riley explains how Melvilles familiarity with the congestion of Lower Manhattan as a customs inspector influenced his descriptions of Jerusalem. Gordon M. Poole then discusses notable subtleties in Ruggero Bianchis Italian translation of the poem, and Robert R. Wallace reveals how selected Biblical prints and other graphics familiar to Melville affected the poets descriptions in Clarel. Melvilles John Marr and Other Sailors (1888) is then examined by A. Robert Lee, who emphasizes the themes of memory and death in that small volume, and Sanford E. Marovitz illuminates Melvilles method of unifying Timoleon, Etc. by using contrast to bind, not separate. Vernon Shetley compares Melvilles Pausilippo thematically with Shelleys Julian and Maddalo, and Michael Jonik explores The Archipelago for insights into Melvilles experimentation with imagery and form. Finally, Wyn Kelley, Clark Davis, and Robert Sandberg imaginatively examine and reassess poems Melville left unpublished at his death. Melville as Poet is a valuable collection of new and critical scholarship that aims to encourage more and deeper study of Melvilles art of poetry.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781612777061

1612777066

OCLC:

868286510