Is Melvilles poetry really worth reading?
Comments: If the difficulty of getting hold of it is any indication, then almost all people think Melville’s poetry *isn’t* worth it. I have been waiting for years for the poetry volume of the Northwestern-Newberry edition to appear (it was promised for 2002, however still shows no signs of coming out). That will be the ultimate answer, as it’ll include all the materials, commentaries, etc. that1could desire. In the meantime, it makes a lot of sense to collect Melville’s own3published volumes of verse in this beautifully compact book. This may not represent his poetic legacy as a whole, however it shows (at any rate) his public face as a poet. And a odd poet he is indeed. He has a lot in common with Thomas Hardy, I think: both are addicted to convoluted diction, impossibly complex and confining stanza forms and metrical schemes, a general sense of labouring over e line and of lack of music and ease. Hardy is, nevertheless, a great poet. When the occasion demands it — “The Convergence
