John Marr And Other Poems

Herman Melville

Born in New York City, the son of New England merchant. He worked at odd jobs (clerk, garmhand, teacher) before sailing to the South Seas on the whaler Acushnet. He deserted his ship, lived among cannibals, mutinied on an Australian boat, then spent two years on an American boat returning to the U.S. He successfully romanticized these adventures, publishing seven novels in six years, including Moby Dick (1851), one of the masterworks of American fiction. His popularity waned, and by the time he died he was virtually forgotten. Billy Budd was his last great novel. As his writing declined, Melville sailed again, around Cape Horn to San Francisco on a clipper ship commanded by his brother.

CONTENTS
Introductory Note
John Marr And Other Poems
  JOHN MARR AND OTHER SAILORS
  BRIDEGROOM DICK
  TOM DEADLIGHT
  JACK ROY
Sea Pieces
  THE HAGLETS
  THE AEOLIAN HARP
  TO THE MASTER OF THE "METEOR"
  FAR OFF SHORE
  THE MAN-OF-WAR HAWK
  THE FIGURE-HEAD
  THE GOOD CRAFT "SNOW BIRD"
  OLD COUNSEL
  THE TUFT OF KELP
  THE MALDIVE SHARK
  TO NED
  CROSSING THE TROPICS
  THE BERG
  THE ENVIABLE ISLES
  PEBBLES
Poems From Timoleon
  LINES TRACED UNDER AN IMAGE OF AMOR THREATENING
  THE NIGHT MARCH
  THE RAVAGED VILLA
  THE NEW ZEALOT TO THE SUN
  MONODY
  LONE FOUNTS
  THE BENCH OF BOORS
  ART
  THE ENTHUSIAST
  SHELLEY'S VISION
  THE MARCHIONESS OF BRINVILLIERS
  THE AGE OF THE ANTONINES
  HERBA SANTA
  OFF CAPE COLONNA
  THE APPARITION
  L' ENVOI
Supplement
Poems From Battle Pieces
  THE PORTENT
  FROM THE CONFLICT OF CONVICTIONS
  THE MARCH INTO VIRGINIA
  BALL'S BLUFF
  THE STONE FLEET
  THE "TEMERAIRE"
  A UTILITARIAN VIEW OF THE "MONITOR'S" FIGHT
  MALVERN HILL
  STONEWALL JACKSON
  THE HOUSE-TOP
  CHATTANOOGA
  ON THE PHOTOGRAPH OF A CORPS COMMANDER
  THE SWAMP ANGEL
  SHERIDAN AT CEDAR CREEK
  IN THE PRISON PEN
  THE COLLEGE COLONEL
  THE MARTYR
  REBEL COLOR-BEARERS AT SHILOH
  AURORA BOREALIS
  THE RELEASED REBEL PRISONER
  "FORMERLY A SLAVE"
  ON THE SLAIN COLLEGIANS
  AMERICA
  INSCRIPTION
  THE FORTITUDE OF THE NORTH
  THE MOUND BY THE LAKE
  ON THE SLAIN AT CHICKAMAUGA
  AN UNINSCRIBED MONUMENT
  ON THE GRAVE OF A YOUNG CAVALRY OFFICER
    KILLED IN THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA
  A REQUIEM
  COMMEMORATIVE OF A NAVAL VICTORY
  A MEDITATION
Poems From Mardi
  WE FISH
  INVOCATION
  DIRGE
  MARLENA
  PIPE SONG
  SONG OF YOOMY GOLD
  THE LAND OF LOVE
Poems From Clarel
  DIRGE
  EPILOGUE