Herman Melville: Champion Of The American Romantic Movement

Author of one of America’s most famous novels, Moby Dick; or The Whale, Herman Melville is remembered today as one of America’s greatest writers. Known today as a champion of the American Romantic movement, Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819 and later died on September 28, 1891 in obscurity. It was only by the early 1920’s that Melville’s works began garnering the respect that they hold today (Bio.com, par. 1). Born to Maria and Allan Melvill on August 1, 1819, Herman was only one of eight children in a once-eminent New York family. His father, Allan, was a successful merchant and importer until he attempted to branch into the fur trade in 1830 and failed. The family’s finances were rocked, and Allan’s death in 1832

Melville’s next novel Pierre; or The Ambiguities, published in 1852, also proved to be both a critical and commercial for him. In light of his novels’ poor performance, Melville took to farming at his Berkshire home while also writing shorter stories for magazines. For the next three years Melville would then publish many other works including The Encantadas; or, The Enchanted Isles in 1854, Israel Potter in 1855, Piazza Tales in 1856, and The Confidence Man in 1857. By 1857, Melville had given up writing large works of fiction, seeing as they had not given him much success, and he instead took to writing poetry. By 1863, the Melvilles had moved back into New York City, and Herman had obtained a job he would hold for twenty years at the New York Custom House. It was here that Melville began his career in poetry, with a collection titled Battle-Pieces and Aspects of War in 1866. About a decade later, Melville followed up Battle-Pieces with Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land in 1876. Subsequently, Melville published John Marr and Other Poems in 1888 before following up with Timoleon in 1891, both being collections of