Herman Melville Research Paper

The Start of an Author August 1st, 1819. Herman Melville is born in New York City to Allen and Maria Gansevoort Melvill. He was born the third child to the couple. He had an older brother, Gansevoort, and an older sister, Helen (“Geni.com,” 2016).

A Wealthy Lifestyle Herman Melville didn’t have the rough start that many authors do, in fact, his family was quite wealthy. His father was a successful high end importer and a merchant. The very beginning to Herman’s life wasn’t hard, they could afford schooling. The Melville's never had to worry about money for food. The family could even afford toys for the children. (“Biography.com,” 2015). In the mid 1820s, Herman fell ill to the scarlet fever. He wasn’t ill for long, but the fever had

This time he was part of the crew on the Acushnet, a whaling ship. The ship had put in at the island of Polynesia, when the ship left again, Herman was not on. Herman and another crewmate decided to stay on the island. Soon after the ship left, Herman and his friend were captured by the local people, who turned out to be cannibals. Both of them were treated well by the natives, but after a few months they started to long for the United States. Herman escaped on the Lucy Ann, another whaling ship. Finally, three years after Herman left the United States, he caught a ride on the USS United States back to Massachusetts (“Biography.com,” 2015)

Early writings Once Herman returned to the United States again, he immediately began writing. Herman set about writing his first book, Typee: A Peep into Polynesian Life. He put in a blend of his experiences and also put his wonderful imagination to work. Typee was published in 1846, and found some mild success. People mainly read Typee for it’s detailed descriptions of the sea, and the wild events that take place in the book. In 1847, he decided to follow up with a sequel, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas. This also only found mild success. He decided he should stick to writing books, and got to work

In 1851, Herman released what would come to be known as his greatest works, and considered by most to be the best sea based novel, Moby Dick: The White Whale. Herman knew how good this book was, but no one could relate to it. Many people hadn’t heard the real life tale of the Essex and thought the book was way too far fetched. This book sold worse than any other book he had made. Herman tried to make three more books, but failed and went to poetry (“Biography.com,”2015). Success after death Herman Melville passed away on September 28th, 1891 of a heart attack, he had just begun working on another novel. Herman was 72 years old. Not long after he had died, people started to pick up his books again, in particular, Moby Dick. This novel in particular has rose to great levels of success and is one of the most well known novels of all time (“Biography.com,”2015). Important on-goings When Herman was born, the president was James Monroe. He was currently the fifth president America at the time. He lived through the Civil war and wrote poems about the influence of John Brown. When he married in 1847, the president at the time was James K. Polk. Herman lived through a total of eighteen presidents in his life (“President in 1819,”