I must say, I like Melville’s poems much better than his novel/story BC. I especially liked “The Fall of Richmond”. I think its a lot like reading a person’s thoughts when they are woken by the loud, triumphant crowd. At first, the person thinks, what is all this for? (“What means these peals from every tower, and crowds like seas that sway?”) Then, they realize that the crowds are celebrating victory of Richmond’s fall. (A city in flags for a city in flames, Richmond goes Babylon’s way--). This is significant because, from what I vaguely remember from US History, Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy and total surrender followed only a few days after it fell, and thus led to the end of the civil war.
The comparison to Babylon is a little odd to me, because I don’t remember hearing that Babylon was burned when Persia took over. This may be a bit of a stretch, but, maybe, the speaker is comparing Babylon to Richmond because both represented powerful “empires” and, in both cases , the city’s fall caused slaves to be set free—the Jewish captives were set free from Babylon and the African slaves were set free in the South.
And then lastly, “Sing and pray” prompts images of a person dancing and singing out of joy that the war is over.
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I have to agree that I liked Melville's poems a lot more than "Benito Cereno", however I felt as though Melville's poems read more like a story especially when read together in order than a persons thoughts. I really enjoyed reading his civil war poems because I learned from them things that I had forgotten after my US history class as I had to look up a few of his references. Furthermore, I find it interesting that "Benito Cereno" is full of metaphors, similes and double meanings while his poems seem to be a lot more straight forward. Even in comparison to Emily Dickinson, Melville was far more explicit about what he is writing about in his poems.
ReplyDeleteI found his style to be really ironic also, but I definitely feel that Benito Cereno and "The March into Virginia" have a lot in common. Melville's speaker is obviously not the soldiers or Delano -- their missions are hopelessly reckless and naive -- they have delusions of untold honor and glory.
ReplyDeleteI seem to have a really hard time enjoying reading anything Melville writes. I appreciate it, understand it (generally), and think it’s great work but I just don’t sympathize with it. It might be the extra salt and blood, but I don’t really relate to his tales. I feel like my dear Emily captured so much in her poems while Melville doesn’t go much above what other good writers of his time were writing. Also, he doesn’t try to endear his characters to the reader – this is evident in the way he shows Delano’s mental gymnastics and portrays Civil War soldiers as lead by “ignorant impulse.” While it’s a great literary tactic and in both cases really makes the point of the plot and ironic tone, it isn’t a really enjoyable experience. (--end of rant---) I already miss Emily!