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TOPIC 53. THE NOVEL, THE TALE AND POETRY IN THE USA: H. MELVILLE, E. A.…
TOPIC 53. THE NOVEL, THE TALE AND POETRY IN THE USA: H. MELVILLE, E. A. POE AND W. WHITMAN
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- THE NOVEL, THE TALE AND POETRY IN THE USA: H. MELVILLE, E. A. POE, AND W. WHITMAN
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2.1. HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK
- 1850-1900: important changes in the USA brought by
industrialisation, transitioning from a predominantly agrarian society to one dominated by machinery, with people working in non-farming occupations. It certainly brought an immigration boom (hence a population increase ) and urbanisation , as well as innovations such as the telephone and the light bulb 💡which, along with the electrification of cities, revolutionised daily life
- Slavery was still a fact and the nation was being split in two by it.
- After CW, US period of vast commercial expansion : railroads , factories, bigger cities = + fortunes, + opportunities, + freedom.
As a result, they felt patriotism, trust in their country that made them sure that USA was the greatest nation on Earth.
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WALT WHITMAN (1819-1892) one of the fathers of free verse who inspired poets to experiment in prosody as well as in subject matter. He was a humanist and part of the transition between trascendentalism and realism.
- He's considered a symbol of American democracy and individualism for his celebration of the individual and his democratic spirit, advocating for social reforms. Indeed, his poems show his democratic view of a universal brotherhood that only the USA could achieve because he strongly believed that Americans had a special role in the world's future. This can be seen in his essays titled "Democratic Vistas"
- His active interest in politics led him to the editorship of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, a Democratic party paper: a job he lost due to his advocacy of abolition of slavery and to help founding the free soil movement
- 🖨️Whitman began his career as a printer's apprentice , which served him to self-publish his groundbreaking work, challenging traditional poetic forms and conventions to reach a wider audience. He also worked as a 👨🏻🏫teacher, though he was not happy with this profession.
- He published and wrote his poems in an unconventional style in both content and technique, opting for reediting them under the same title: 🍂"Leaves of Grass" . Since he was constantly modifying the book, it remained an incomplete work-in-progress.
- Its signature STYLE: includes "idiosyncratic treatment of the body and the soul as well as of the self and the other. He wrote in a everyday language that was innovative, employing a personal tone, openly writing about death and sexuality, including prostitution
- The Bible and epic texts gave him an oratorical style, including long lists and catalogues in his works
- His love for opera inspired him to use musical elements like repetition of some words and sounds, creating powerful rhythm, and giving unity to his poetry
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EDGAR ALLAN POE
- orphan as a 3-year-old. Later lived with his widowed aunt
- Enlisted in the army as EA Perry, served 2 years but was dismissed after deliberately neglecting his duties, accumating 106 demerits in 6 months.
- Had drinking problems which led him to death
got married with his cousin (who later died).
Edgar was supported by his foster father until he refused to provide him with financial aid due to his gambling problem , for which Poe became indebted and dropped Virginia's university in 1826.
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THEMES, STYLE AND WORKS
- He established himself as a CRITIC since he wanted to help develop a national literature through intelligent criticism. He provided devastating reviews of popular contemporary authors, reason why they called him "The Tomahawk Man" . Although his contributions were appreciated, he started having trouble because of his controversial opinions and his alcoholism.
- to support himself he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond . Then, he joined the Burton's Gentleman's Magazine as an assistant editor, contributing several short Stories, including "The Fall of House Usher". .
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he was interested in psychology and in the darker side of human nature; that's why his fiction belongs to the Gothic Tradition (containing elements such as fear, gloom, death, supernatural, horror), but it's romantic in language and imagery.
- His style is characterised by its musicality and rhythm; he sought it through rhyme, repetition and brevity, along with other tools such as alliteration and allegory.
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- Turned to fiction and published poems, winning a prize and a name with "The Raven". . His poetry was influenced by Byron, Keats and Shelley ; yet it's subjective, surreal and mystical
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HERMAN MELVILLE
LIFE
author born and died in NYC
After his father's death, he had to leave school to become a bank clerk, but he left searching for adventure. He became a cabin boy and shipped to Liverpool . However, he returned to the USA to work as a school teacher.
- Later, he sailed for the South Seas on a whaler, deserting to the Marquesas Islands, where he lived among cannibals . He was sold and imprisoned in Tahiti .
- He shipped to Hawaii in 1843 and enlisted as a seaman on the USS navy Frigate .
- in 1847, he married Elizabeth Shaw and they moved to a farm where he met Nathaniel Hawthorne , to whom he dedicated Moby Dick
in 1866 he worked as a Deputy customs inspector in NYC to support himself since his novels were a financial failure.
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- In 1844 he returned to the US to begin his career as a writer in NYC
WORKS, STYLE and THEMES
Encouraged by his family, he wrote Typee and its sequel, Omoo . These two novels tell Melville's adventure in the South Seas, contrasting civilisation with primitive life.
- Indeed, he kept using his experience as theme for his works, as can be seen in his last published work, "The Confidence Man" , a journal of his tour of Europe, a despairing satire on America's corrupted dreams.
- His last important work is "Billy Budd", published 30 years after his death telling the story of a young sailor and his evil enemy who destroy each other.
- His most important work is Moby Dick, which represents a symbolic voyage and the conflict between the captain of a whaler and a whale who tore off his leg. It shows the constant captain's wish of revenge who even drives his crew in a desperate search for the whale. Melville wrote it in a powerful style with sections that can stand by themselves as short-stories of merit. The novel has Shakespearean influence, making his prose rethoric (including monologues and soliloquies) and dramatic staging, presenting the sea as a place of transition.
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In Nathalia Wright's view, Melville's style contains Biblical elements (with an apocalyptic tone, using hebraisms), classical references, philosophical speculations, allegories, proverbs and refrains.
- It also includes mythological allusions, historical references and scientific descriptions, making it a unique blend of fiction and nonfiction.
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- Wright, N. (1969). "Melville's use of the Bible"
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2.2. LITERARY BACKGROUND: NEW ENGLAND OR AMERICAN TRASCENDENTALISM
- origin: Massachussets ; 1836-1860
- According to , it's a movement of writers and philosophers united by an idealistic system of thought based on the belief of the unity of all creations, innate goodness and the supremacy of intuition and nature for the revelation of the deepest truths. It represented a battle between old and young generations and the new national culture based on native materials.
- Individualistic figures: Emerson and Fuller founded the prototypical magazine "The Dial" , where one can find the American Renaissance in Literature. Criticising and questioning organised religion, trascendentalists rejected 18th c. conventions and the industrialised society. They were leaders in new schemes for living: better working conditions, female suffrage, free religion, educational innovation, and other humanitarian causes. Many were involved in utopian communities, such as Brook Farm
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REFERENCES
- Grlica, T. (2013).“The Importance of Teaching Literature in a High-School Environment with the Incorporation of Film and Multimedia into the Process"”.
- Bekmuratovich, X. G. (2020). "The Importance of teaching History to Students"
- The American Yawp
- The World History Encyclopedia
- Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Levine, R. S. (Ed.). (2022). The Norton Anthology of American Literature
- Wright, N. (1969). "Melville's use of the Bible"