What do you think?
Rate this book
Complete Poems: Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War / Clarel / John Marr and Other Sailors / Timoleon Etc. / Posthumous & Uncollected
Herman Melville ranks with Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as one of the three great American poets of the nineteenth century. Whether meditating on the bloody battlefields of the Civil War, the mysteries of faith and doubt in the Holy Land, or the strange relationship between the Maldive Shark and the pilot fish that glide before “his Gorgonian head,” Melville’s verse combines precise physical detail and rich metaphysical speculation in an unorthodox style and with a compressed power uniquely his own. The fruit of decades of textual scholarship, this fourth and final volume of the Library of America Melville edition gathers for the first time in one volume all of Melville’s poems: the four books of poetry published in his lifetime, his uncollected poems, and the poems from two projected volumes of poetry and prose left unfinished at his death.
Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), Melville’s first published book of poems, is one of the very few literary masterpieces to emerge from the Civil War. To read it today is to become immersed in the events of the great national crisis: the execution of “Weird John Brown,” the shock of the young Union soldiers at Bull Run “enlightened by the vollied glare,” the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack, the brutal New York City Draft Riots, and Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. By turns elegiac and enthusiastic, horrified and hopeful, the book recreates the experience of the Civil War home front, distilled by Melville’s singular genius.
The heart of the volume is Melville’s epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (1876), a work he spent seven years writing while employed as a New York customs inspector. The story of a young divinity student’s journey to Jerusalem and environs—a quest with both spiritual and sexual dimensions—the poem grew out of Melville’s own travels to Palestine two decades earlier. At 18,000 lines, it is one of the longest poems in the English language, inviting comparisons to Milton’s Paradise Lost and Dante’s Divine Comedy. It is also a deeply personal and revealing work, offering a picture of Melville’s complicated friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne through Clarel’s wavering attraction to a fellow traveler named Vine.
Also included here are the two late privately published collections, his haunting nautical book John Marr and Other Sailors (1888) and Timoleon Etc. (1891), the latter containing the celebrated poems “After the Pleasure Party” and “The Age of the Antonines.” Rounding out the volume are the poems from Melville’s two unfinished manuscripts, Weeds and Wildings and Parthenope, along with miscellaneous uncollected poems, including “Billy in the Darbies,” the ballad that sparked the composition of Billy Budd. All are presented in authoritative texts established by the multi-volume Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville.
Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), Melville’s first published book of poems, is one of the very few literary masterpieces to emerge from the Civil War. To read it today is to become immersed in the events of the great national crisis: the execution of “Weird John Brown,” the shock of the young Union soldiers at Bull Run “enlightened by the vollied glare,” the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack, the brutal New York City Draft Riots, and Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. By turns elegiac and enthusiastic, horrified and hopeful, the book recreates the experience of the Civil War home front, distilled by Melville’s singular genius.
The heart of the volume is Melville’s epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (1876), a work he spent seven years writing while employed as a New York customs inspector. The story of a young divinity student’s journey to Jerusalem and environs—a quest with both spiritual and sexual dimensions—the poem grew out of Melville’s own travels to Palestine two decades earlier. At 18,000 lines, it is one of the longest poems in the English language, inviting comparisons to Milton’s Paradise Lost and Dante’s Divine Comedy. It is also a deeply personal and revealing work, offering a picture of Melville’s complicated friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne through Clarel’s wavering attraction to a fellow traveler named Vine.
Also included here are the two late privately published collections, his haunting nautical book John Marr and Other Sailors (1888) and Timoleon Etc. (1891), the latter containing the celebrated poems “After the Pleasure Party” and “The Age of the Antonines.” Rounding out the volume are the poems from Melville’s two unfinished manuscripts, Weeds and Wildings and Parthenope, along with miscellaneous uncollected poems, including “Billy in the Darbies,” the ballad that sparked the composition of Billy Budd. All are presented in authoritative texts established by the multi-volume Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville.
1008 pages, Hardcover
Published August 27, 2019
8 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Herman Melville
2,377 books4,514 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 14, 2023
Melville's Complete Poems In The Library Of America
This year commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Herman Melville. (August 1, 1819 -- 1891). In celebration of his life and accomplishment, the Library of America has published this volume of Melville's Complete Poems, marking the first time that all of Melville's poetry has been gathered together and made accessible in a single volume. Hershel Parker, a lifelong Melville scholar and the author of a three-volume biography of Melville, edited the volume and prepared the notes on the texts and a chronology of Melville's life. The texts of the poems are based on the definitive Northwestern-Newberry Edition of Melville's Complete Works. Parker himself edited the final two volumes that consist of the final sections included in this LOA volume. Melville's novels and stories have long been available in three large LOA volumes, beginning with the LOA's first volume published in 1982, With the publication of Melville's poetry, Melville's complete writings are now available in the LOA. It was truly a labor of love to edit and publish this volume. Readers of American literature are in Parker's and the LOA's debt.
Melville's poetry is much less well-known that his novels and stories, such as "Moby-Dick" and "Bartelby". His career as a poet began in about 1860, after his apparent failure as a novelist. With the exception of his short novel, "Billy Budd" Melville wrote only poetry from 1860 until the end of his life. His poetry has always received mixed critical reviews at best. It is in a unique style with jagged meters and rhymes and difficult allusions. Still the meter is adopted to the complexity of Melville's thought and observations. With this volume, readers will have the opportunity to explore the poetry carefully and over time.
The four volumes of poetry Melville published in his life all are included. The centerpiece of the volume is Melville's lengthy and long-neglected poem "Clarel" which he published in 1876. At 18,000 lines, "Clarel" is the longest poem written by an American. It is based on a journey Melville took to the Holy Land in 1856-1857. The poem explores Melville's lifelong preoccupation with issues of religious faith and doubt, particularly with the rise of the theory of evolution. It explores many other themes as well, including issues of love and sexuality and politics. The title character is a student of theology and he takes a journey in the Holy Land in the company of other pilgrims who discuss and debate large religious and philosophical questions. The book is difficult and is best read with the aid of a commentary. I read the poem this past year as my own commemoration of Melville's anniversary. The poem will never be popular but it is a gift to have it available.
The most accessible volume of Melville's poetry is "Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War" published in 1867. This book consists of poems gleaned from journalistic reports of the events of the Civil War. The volume is reflective and thoughtful and captures the ambiguity and tragedy of the War more than it does heroic combat. This is the strength of the volume, together with its unusual but poignant meter and verse. "Battle-Pieces" concludes with an essay in which Melville urges a reconciliationist approach to the South. I have read and enjoyed "Battle-Pieces many times over the years, and the work is a good place to start for readers new to Melville's poetry.
Late in his life, Melville published two books of poetry at his own expense. Only 25 volumes of each were printed, suggesting that the books were personal and intended for family and close friends. "John Marr and Other Sailors" is a beautifully reflective work of short and long poems and prose sections in which Melville recollects his early life at sea. The second book "Timoleon" is broader-themed but also centers on wandering and on history. Melville's frequently anthologized poems "After the Pleasure Party" and "The Age of the Antonines" are included in this volume, together with much more.
Melville had been working on two additional volumes, "Weeds and Wildings Chiefly with a Rose or Two" and "Parthenope" at the time of his death. These volumes were carefully edited by Parker for the Newberry edition and are included here. Some of the poems in these collections were likely written before 1860 for Melville's first failed attempt to publish a volume of poetry. Melville wrote long prose introductions to some of the poems. I found the most accessible part of these volumes were the many poems about roses and flowers mostly included in "Weeds and Wildings". These poems are quiet and beautiful. The poems in "Parthenope" gave me trouble on my first readings.
The volume concludes with Melville's uncollected poetry. Perhaps Melville's most familiar poem "Billy in the Darbies" which he used to conclude "Billy Budd" is included here, with much besides.
It is hard to pick a representative sample of Melville's poetry to quote out of this large, mixed body of poems. Thus, I will conclude with the final poem of the volume, a slight work titled "Adieu". It seems a fitting way to end.
"Ring down! The curtain falls, and ye
Will go your ways. Yet think of me.
And genial take what's genial given
And long be happy under heaven."
This book of Melville's complete poems amply fulfills the mission of the Library of America in presenting the best of America's cultural heritage.
Robin Friedman
This year commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Herman Melville. (August 1, 1819 -- 1891). In celebration of his life and accomplishment, the Library of America has published this volume of Melville's Complete Poems, marking the first time that all of Melville's poetry has been gathered together and made accessible in a single volume. Hershel Parker, a lifelong Melville scholar and the author of a three-volume biography of Melville, edited the volume and prepared the notes on the texts and a chronology of Melville's life. The texts of the poems are based on the definitive Northwestern-Newberry Edition of Melville's Complete Works. Parker himself edited the final two volumes that consist of the final sections included in this LOA volume. Melville's novels and stories have long been available in three large LOA volumes, beginning with the LOA's first volume published in 1982, With the publication of Melville's poetry, Melville's complete writings are now available in the LOA. It was truly a labor of love to edit and publish this volume. Readers of American literature are in Parker's and the LOA's debt.
Melville's poetry is much less well-known that his novels and stories, such as "Moby-Dick" and "Bartelby". His career as a poet began in about 1860, after his apparent failure as a novelist. With the exception of his short novel, "Billy Budd" Melville wrote only poetry from 1860 until the end of his life. His poetry has always received mixed critical reviews at best. It is in a unique style with jagged meters and rhymes and difficult allusions. Still the meter is adopted to the complexity of Melville's thought and observations. With this volume, readers will have the opportunity to explore the poetry carefully and over time.
The four volumes of poetry Melville published in his life all are included. The centerpiece of the volume is Melville's lengthy and long-neglected poem "Clarel" which he published in 1876. At 18,000 lines, "Clarel" is the longest poem written by an American. It is based on a journey Melville took to the Holy Land in 1856-1857. The poem explores Melville's lifelong preoccupation with issues of religious faith and doubt, particularly with the rise of the theory of evolution. It explores many other themes as well, including issues of love and sexuality and politics. The title character is a student of theology and he takes a journey in the Holy Land in the company of other pilgrims who discuss and debate large religious and philosophical questions. The book is difficult and is best read with the aid of a commentary. I read the poem this past year as my own commemoration of Melville's anniversary. The poem will never be popular but it is a gift to have it available.
The most accessible volume of Melville's poetry is "Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War" published in 1867. This book consists of poems gleaned from journalistic reports of the events of the Civil War. The volume is reflective and thoughtful and captures the ambiguity and tragedy of the War more than it does heroic combat. This is the strength of the volume, together with its unusual but poignant meter and verse. "Battle-Pieces" concludes with an essay in which Melville urges a reconciliationist approach to the South. I have read and enjoyed "Battle-Pieces many times over the years, and the work is a good place to start for readers new to Melville's poetry.
Late in his life, Melville published two books of poetry at his own expense. Only 25 volumes of each were printed, suggesting that the books were personal and intended for family and close friends. "John Marr and Other Sailors" is a beautifully reflective work of short and long poems and prose sections in which Melville recollects his early life at sea. The second book "Timoleon" is broader-themed but also centers on wandering and on history. Melville's frequently anthologized poems "After the Pleasure Party" and "The Age of the Antonines" are included in this volume, together with much more.
Melville had been working on two additional volumes, "Weeds and Wildings Chiefly with a Rose or Two" and "Parthenope" at the time of his death. These volumes were carefully edited by Parker for the Newberry edition and are included here. Some of the poems in these collections were likely written before 1860 for Melville's first failed attempt to publish a volume of poetry. Melville wrote long prose introductions to some of the poems. I found the most accessible part of these volumes were the many poems about roses and flowers mostly included in "Weeds and Wildings". These poems are quiet and beautiful. The poems in "Parthenope" gave me trouble on my first readings.
The volume concludes with Melville's uncollected poetry. Perhaps Melville's most familiar poem "Billy in the Darbies" which he used to conclude "Billy Budd" is included here, with much besides.
It is hard to pick a representative sample of Melville's poetry to quote out of this large, mixed body of poems. Thus, I will conclude with the final poem of the volume, a slight work titled "Adieu". It seems a fitting way to end.
"Ring down! The curtain falls, and ye
Will go your ways. Yet think of me.
And genial take what's genial given
And long be happy under heaven."
This book of Melville's complete poems amply fulfills the mission of the Library of America in presenting the best of America's cultural heritage.
Robin Friedman
August 20, 2022
Melville is best when his awkward/craggy verse goes with a bleak landscape/outlook.
September 12, 2019
Herman Melville’s poetry is an interesting enigma. The man wrote poetry when he wrote prose. Passages from Moby Dick can be easily laid out in iambic pentameter, with the rich rhythms and imagery you’d expect from a great poet. Yet his poetry proves something else – a bit stiff, slavish to the meter, with cloying rhymes.
His mistake, it seems to me, is trying to take his epic, sprawling style and fit it in a lyric format. The short lined lyric doesn’t do him justice, and I don’t think he wrote anything blank verse – which you would think would be is forte. That said, he wrote some fine poems – the John Marr collection being his best collection in my opinion.
Battle-Pieces *** -- I found this to be a rather strange work. It doesn’t have the vitality or sweep of Whitman’s Drum Taps. Melville struggles to understand the Civil War and its carnage, but his language and ideas seem trapped in metric forms and rhymes. (1/12)
Clarel *** I’m not sure what to make of this strange, sprawling, confusing tale of a young man going to the Holy Land to confront the modern spiritual crisis. The environment is dry, desolate and claustrophobic and he meets a series of dreamers and cast-offs.
The authorial voice has a feverish quality – I’m never sure if the voice is the narrator or Clarel (stress on the first syllable) speaking. But everything is heavy and lumbering, weighted down my meaning intentional and unintentional, over-stuffed with history, saturated through with religious significance.
It is a struggle for faith and meaning, but not necessarily in a religious sense. It is a struggle to understand if life has meaning or purpose, and is worth living. It is the awakening of the modern secular man and the death of the gods.
It is frankly a hard poem to follow, and it elicits little sympathy for Clarel or the others. There is neither character nor plot to hook the reader. The language is vague and rambling, and the tetrameter lines, coming in a long string, makes it feels like you’re sprinting 20 feet, stopping and then sprinting 20 feet, then stopping, and so on.
Part One: Jerusalem – In this section we meet Clarel in the midst of his spiritual crisis, and we tour Jerusalem meeting strange men and strange sites. It’s a dry, desperate, deadly place. Like Clarel, it is haunted by otherworldly purposes. Characters come and go. Cecil appears only to disappear – and I’m not sure he does more than share looks with Clarel. What age is Nehemiah? I originally thought he was Clarel’s age, but he’s late described as having grey hair. (9/19)
John Marr and Other Sailors **** – This brief collection is outstanding. Here, Melville adopts a longer line – rhyming but not metrically rigid – that gives him the freedom and space he needs to express himself. The “Sailor Poems” that start the collection are particularly good, though they all have the same story/theme: An old man looking back on his sailing life. Billy Budd probably started as part of this collection, but took on a life of its own and Melville starting working on it separately. If anyone is interested in Melville poetry, I’d suggest starting here. (1/12)
This is the only complete edition of Melville’s poetry, and it’s long overdue. Other than the edition of selected poems by Robert Penn Warren, his verse is almost impossible to find. (Warren’s introduction, by the way, offers one of the best, most comprehensive overviews of Melville’s poetry that you’ll find outside some obscure literary magazine.)
Melville’s poetry is not likely to gain many avid readers, but he is one of the great American authors and his work deserves attention. If you are deeply into American poetry and its history, this is a must-read (at least parts of it). You may want to peek at it if you love Moby-Dick or Billy Budd. Otherwise, I wouldn’t highly recommend it.
His mistake, it seems to me, is trying to take his epic, sprawling style and fit it in a lyric format. The short lined lyric doesn’t do him justice, and I don’t think he wrote anything blank verse – which you would think would be is forte. That said, he wrote some fine poems – the John Marr collection being his best collection in my opinion.
Battle-Pieces *** -- I found this to be a rather strange work. It doesn’t have the vitality or sweep of Whitman’s Drum Taps. Melville struggles to understand the Civil War and its carnage, but his language and ideas seem trapped in metric forms and rhymes. (1/12)
Clarel *** I’m not sure what to make of this strange, sprawling, confusing tale of a young man going to the Holy Land to confront the modern spiritual crisis. The environment is dry, desolate and claustrophobic and he meets a series of dreamers and cast-offs.
The authorial voice has a feverish quality – I’m never sure if the voice is the narrator or Clarel (stress on the first syllable) speaking. But everything is heavy and lumbering, weighted down my meaning intentional and unintentional, over-stuffed with history, saturated through with religious significance.
It is a struggle for faith and meaning, but not necessarily in a religious sense. It is a struggle to understand if life has meaning or purpose, and is worth living. It is the awakening of the modern secular man and the death of the gods.
It is frankly a hard poem to follow, and it elicits little sympathy for Clarel or the others. There is neither character nor plot to hook the reader. The language is vague and rambling, and the tetrameter lines, coming in a long string, makes it feels like you’re sprinting 20 feet, stopping and then sprinting 20 feet, then stopping, and so on.
Part One: Jerusalem – In this section we meet Clarel in the midst of his spiritual crisis, and we tour Jerusalem meeting strange men and strange sites. It’s a dry, desperate, deadly place. Like Clarel, it is haunted by otherworldly purposes. Characters come and go. Cecil appears only to disappear – and I’m not sure he does more than share looks with Clarel. What age is Nehemiah? I originally thought he was Clarel’s age, but he’s late described as having grey hair. (9/19)
John Marr and Other Sailors **** – This brief collection is outstanding. Here, Melville adopts a longer line – rhyming but not metrically rigid – that gives him the freedom and space he needs to express himself. The “Sailor Poems” that start the collection are particularly good, though they all have the same story/theme: An old man looking back on his sailing life. Billy Budd probably started as part of this collection, but took on a life of its own and Melville starting working on it separately. If anyone is interested in Melville poetry, I’d suggest starting here. (1/12)
This is the only complete edition of Melville’s poetry, and it’s long overdue. Other than the edition of selected poems by Robert Penn Warren, his verse is almost impossible to find. (Warren’s introduction, by the way, offers one of the best, most comprehensive overviews of Melville’s poetry that you’ll find outside some obscure literary magazine.)
Melville’s poetry is not likely to gain many avid readers, but he is one of the great American authors and his work deserves attention. If you are deeply into American poetry and its history, this is a must-read (at least parts of it). You may want to peek at it if you love Moby-Dick or Billy Budd. Otherwise, I wouldn’t highly recommend it.
April 19, 2025
contender for book I'd have with me on a deserted island.
Read
October 25, 2019811.3 M531Ap 2019
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews