Herman Melville is the famed author of Moby Dick and a few select poems. Depending on the piece of writing, Melville’s style changes significantly. There are moments where his work is filled with allusions and others in which it’s quite direct and relatable. His poetry wasn’t published till the 1860s with Battle-Pieces.
‘In the Prison Pen’ by Herman Melville describes the life of a prisoner who is unable to recall his past life and is haunted by his present and future.
Listless he eyes the palisades
And sentries in the glare;
’Tis barren as a pelican-beach—
But his world is ended there.
‘Misgivings’ by Herman Melville describes the state of America right before the beginning of the Civil War and the fear that many felt for the future.
When ocean-clouds over inland hills
Sweep storming in late autumn brown,
And horror the sodden valley fills,
And the spire falls crashing in the town,
‘The Maldive Shark’ is a poem that describes the relationship between sharks and the pilot-fish that swim along beside them.
About the Shark, phlegmatical one,
Pale sot of the Maldive sea,
The sleek little pilot-fish, azure and slim,
How alert in attendance be.
‘The ribs and terrors in the whale’ by Herman Melville depicts the plight of a narrator trapped within a whale, who prays to God and is then liberated.
The ribs and terrors in the whale,
Arched over me a dismal gloom,
While all God’s sun-lit waves rolled by,
And left me deepening down to doom.
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