Melville by a Classics major

As a Classics major, the motif that struck me most throughout Melville’s poetry was his repeated discussion of classical events and people. Granted, some of these can be interpreted as just ancient Greek or Biblical; there are references to Babylon and Orion in “The Fall of Richmond.” However, some of Melville’s choices are not so obviously repeated in well-known literature. In “The March into Virginia,” Melville writes, “In Bacchic glee they file toward Fate,” describing soldiers heading for their deaths in the first battle of the Civil War. Melville’s metaphor is absolutely spot-on, as the peasants who partook in Bacchanalian rituals were all exiled if discovered; the government of ancient Rome wrote in formal documents that the Fates had decided this for the pagans.
An even more unusual reference to antiquity may be considered a stretch by some. In describing John Brown, Melville chose to title his poem “The Portent,” and end by describing Brown as a meteor. This is a particularly interesting combination, as Shakespeare described a rather famous “portentous meteor” in his history play Julius Caesar. If a coincidence, it is an odd coincidence. If intentional, it is genius on Melville’s part. Although John Brown and Julius Caesar don’t have much in common historically, both died noble deaths that served as catalysts for chaos.