Has anyone read Melville's epic poem 'Clarel'? If so, how was it? Also, what about his poetry?
Has anyone read Melville's epic poem 'Clarel'? If so, how was it? Also, what about his poetry?
What are you talking about?! No one cares about Melville. Anyway, this belongs in the poetry section.
What is that your signature?! "If not, winter"?
"bruised reed" Isaiah 42:3
...any real answers?
I haven't read his poetry before now, but his short stories are truly extraordinary, almost transcendental. Just now I did look up some poetry and am reading the Berg, by the 5th line my heart caught in my throat. .
I also looked up and found this interesting info: (from Wiki)
'Melville did not publish poetry until late in life and his reputation as a poet was not high until late in the 20th century.
'Melville, says recent literary critic Lawrence Buell, “is justly said to be nineteenth-century America’s leading poet after Whitman and Dickinson, yet his poetry remains largely unread even by many Melvillians.” True, Buell concedes, even more than most Victorian poets, Melville turned to poetry as an “instrument of meditation rather than for the sake of melody or linguistic play.” It is also true that he turned from fiction to poetry late in life. Yet he wrote twice as much poetry as Dickinson and probably as many lines as Whitman, and he wrote distinguished poetry for a quarter of a century, twice as long as his career publishing prose narratives. The three novels of the 1850s which Melville worked on most seriously to present his philosophical explorations, Moby-Dick, Pierre, and The Confidence Man, seem to make the step to philosophical poetry a natural one rather than simply a consequence of commercial failure.[114]'
Since I copied it anyway and it's right here, might as well post the Berg. .
The Berg, by Herman Melville
I SAW a ship of martial build
(Her standards set, her brave apparel on)
Directed as by madness mere
Against a stolid iceberg steer,
Nor budge it, though the infatuate ship went down.
The impact made huge ice-cubes fall
Sullen, in tons that crashed the deck;
But that one avalanche was all--
No other movement save the foundering wreck.
Along the spurs of ridges pale,
Not any slenderest shaft and frail,
A prism over glass-green gorges lone,
Toppled; nor lace of traceries fine,
Nor pendant drops in grot or mine
Were jarred, when the stunned ship went down.
Nor sole the gulls in cloud that wheeled
Circling one snow-flanked peak afar,
But nearer fowl the floes that skimmed
And crystal beaches, felt no jar.
No thrill transmitted stirred the lock
Of jack-straw needle-ice at base;
Towers undermined by waves--the block
Atilt impending--kept their place.
Seals, dozing sleek on sliddery ledges
Slipt never, when by loftier edges
Through very inertia overthrown,
The impetuous ship in bafflement went down.
Hard Berg (methought), so cold, so vast,
With mortal damps self-overcast;
Exhaling still thy dankish breath--
Adrift dissolving, bound for death;
Though lumpish thou, a lumbering one--
A lumbering lubbard loitering slow,
Impingers rue thee and go down,
Sounding thy precipice below,
Nor stir the slimy slug that sprawls
Along thy dead indifference of walls.
Thanks much for the thread, Lykren; I hadn't thought about his short stories in a long time. And I didn't even know his place in poetry, so that was very nice to learn!
Lykren, I was kidding. Actually, I was hoping for some kind of response since I am interested in the topic myself.
Unfortunately, I am not of much help. (As with you, I have not yet read Melville's poetry beyond only a few poems.) But Melville is one of my very favorites, and, even while Shakespeare is the greatest English author (and maybe better than Melville), Melville is the greatest American author. At least, thats what I think right now. Iv'e now read the Library of America's Melville books (that is, Typee, Omoo, Mardi, Redburn, White Jacket, Moby Dick, Pierre, Israel Potter, The Confidence Man, Billy Bud, and his shorter fiction).
Nicolai, I have read The Piazza Tales and some other of his short stories several times now. I feel as you; these stories are bad ***. After reading, for instance, Berentino (****-a-doddle-do) (Exact name?!) the way to make the day brighter becomes surprisingly clear.
But the poetry! I have asked a few times about it before here, but no one seems really to have read it. St Luke has read Clarel, but then I doubt that person can say much about about it. I say this not because Luke does not give brilliant advice, but because I have the feeling that Luke only read it once, and that long ago (I hope I am wrong). At least, even St. Luke did not have much to say about Clarel before. But then that is perhaps the only person to ask.
Iv'e just bought it, so I can perhaps recommend an Edition, but that is about all. I'm soon to go into this greatest of American authors poetry, but haven't yet.
"bruised reed" Isaiah 42:3
Lol, that restores my faith in humanity a little bit bluosean, thanks for the explanation!
One thing I've noticed is that to get the full effect of transcendental poetry, nowadays, I have to be in a somewhat meditative state of mind.. As a kid, it was different, and the mind makes connections more quickly; so the first time I read "In Cabin'd Ships at Sea," for instance, I had never learned about meditation but it completely blew me away, and I realized after, that I had read the first poem that had that vastess behind it. . And reading the Berg, for instance, the first time through caught my heart, and felt that feeling, but the second time I didn't quite get it, because it had abated. . . But that's quite alright because it's always possible to go back and read them in a better state of mind.
Oh, good, haha. I'm glad you were just kidding. I've only read Moby-Dick by Melville, but I'm looking forward to getting round to read some of his other novels. That was an unusual poem by Melville you've shared with us NikolaiI. Not a particular favorite of mine, certainly nothing I'd put next to Whitman or Dickinson.
I'm still looking for any word on Clarel by someone who's read it. Anyone?
Hey, it's not my fault if you don't know good poetry. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
and... you're welcome.
I liked it! It just wasn't a favorite.
No worries. I put it there because I care about you and consider you a friend; your comment seemed a bit cold and dismissive and that kind of knotted my gut -
But it's all good, you're still my friend, if you want to be.
Argh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound cold!
It's not a problem.
Last edited by NikolaiI; 03-23-2015 at 10:09 PM.
rambled on a ways..
Last edited by NikolaiI; 03-23-2015 at 10:08 PM.
about nothing much
Last edited by NikolaiI; 03-23-2015 at 10:09 PM.
this one doubled for some reason.
Peace.
Last edited by NikolaiI; 03-23-2015 at 09:02 PM.
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