Herman Melville- Complete Poems

by Herman Melville

339.30 Arethusa under ground] Arethusa, Greek nymph transformed into a river running under the Mediterranean and arising in Sicily, near Syracuse. Melville knew a Christianized version of the story, where waters started in the Holy Land (Moby-Dick, ch. 41).

  340.33 But as heaven made me, so am I.”] See Thomas Middleton’s The Widow (1615–16), II.i.15.

  341.1 Ashtoreth] Canaanite goddess of the moon.

  346.30 Leon’s spoil of Inca plate] A reference to the gold and silver spoils taken by the conquistador Ponce de Léon (1474–1521). As published in 1876 the word was “Spanish,” better than Melville’s later substitution because Incan spoil did not come from Puerto Rico and Cuba—a confusion like Keats’s mixing of Cortez and Balboa.

  346.35 Calpe’s gate] Straits of Gibraltar, Mons Calpe being the Roman name for the Rock of Gibraltar.

  348.10 Hegelized] Rolfe’s use of G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831) as an exemplar of the scientific approach seems inexact since his Science of Logic (1816) does not deal with systematic study of the physical world.

  349.15–20 From Ur of the Chaldees . . . God as One—alone] Abraham, as the first believer in one God.

  350.24 Esau’s hand] Esau was hairy, his twin brother, Jacob, smooth and hairless (Genesis 25:25, 27:11).

  350.30–35 Phlegræan fields . . . all things natural] Volcanic landscape west of Naples, mythological site where Jove felled giants.

  351.39–352.2 Mambrino’s helmet . . . given rise] Don Quixote perceives a brass basin on the head of a barber (protecting his hat from the sudden rain) as the enchanted helmet of the fictional Moorish king Mambrino.

  353.1 Darwin] Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) formulated a theory of evolution and survival of the strongest.

  353.8 “You Pyrrhonist!] Extreme skeptic.

  356.20 Horeb’s Moses] Moses on Mount Sinai, where he was given the Ten Commandments.

  357.9–10 Aaron’s gemmed vest . . . Genevan cloth] Aaron’s gemmed vest as described in Exodus 28:15–31; severe clothing such as John Calvin’s sumptuary laws enforced in Geneva.

  357.25–28 Uriel Acosta . . . A suicide.] Portuguese Jew and freethinking rationalist (1590–1647) who was brought up a Catholic; he took his own life after twice being ostracized by his synagogue and later recanting.

  357.28–36 Heine . . . wreath thereon.] Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), German poet from a Jewish family who converted to Christianity; often criticized by his German contemporaries for his frivolity, sensuality, and offensive language. He died in exile in Paris after a long painful illness and is buried in Montmartre. Photographs of the original tomb show the metal rail and wreath.

  358.4–13 But see . . . Moses Mendelssohn . . . safe retreat?’”] The German polymath Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786), in a public letter to the Swiss theologian Johann Lavater in 1769, explained his reasons for remaining a Jew, but he was still badgered to acknowledge himself a Christian. Isaac Leeser’s 1852 translation of Mendelssohn’s Jerusalem, includes this retort: “If it be true that the corner-stones of my house have started from their place, and the building threatens to tumble down; would I do well if I were to remove my chattels from the lower to the upper story for safety? Would I be safer there? Now, Christianity is, as you know, built upon Judaism, and must necessarily tumble into ruins whenever this falls.”

  358.18 Neander] David Mendel (1789–1850), a kinsman of Moses Mendelssohn, converted to Christianity, changed his name to “August Neander,” and became an important historian of Christianity.

  360.5 mace of Ivanhoe] Not the weapon of Sir Walter Scott’s hero but Margoth’s geologic hammer.

  360.25–27 The Jew . . . Balaam on the ass?”] See Numbers 22:21–35. Margoth, not an angel like the one invisible to Balaam (though not to his ass), lets Nehemiah pass.

  365.5–14 thy servant . . . Ave maris stella?] The reference is to Chateaubriand, who sings the “Ave maris stella” song in his Travels (1811). See also note 338.19.

  365.29 Cecilia] See note 247.15.

  365.30 Benignus Muscatel] The friar who gave Rolfe the hymnbook, the name is a play on “blessed wine.”

  367.8 chief of sinners.”] Paul’s provocative claim in 1 Timothy 1:15.

  369.3 Paul! . . . Festus] In Acts 26, Paul before Festus and King Agrippa tells the story of his conversion on his way to Damascus so powerfully that Agrippa is almost persuaded to become a Christian.

  370.9–10 Melancthon! . . . Luther’s mind] German theologian Philip Me­lanchthon (1497–1560), friend and follower of Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546), who thought Melanchthon’s Augsburg Confession (1530) too conciliatory toward Catholics.

  370.16 Red Republic] France.

  372.11 Rome’s tomb . . . Abaddon’s cradle.] The death of Catholicism could open Hell, the kingdom of Abaddon (equivalent of the Greek Apollyon). See Revelation 9:11.

  372.12–13 Pope . . . Charlemagne’s great fee—] Charlemagne gave much money to Leo III, and his father gave lands around Rome to the Pope.

  373.35 our Scot] The Elder, introduced in “The Cavalcade.”

  374.3 Hildebrand’s] In Longfellow’s The Golden Legend (1854), which Melville’s brother-in-law John Hoadley read aloud, “Pope Hildebrand,” Gregory VII (c. 1015–1085), is the “Holy Satan.”

  374.31 a Bayard knight] Pierre Terrail, Chevalier de Bayard (c. 1473–1524), was a French solider known as le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche (“the knight without fear and beyond reproach”).

  375.18 Dorian Myths] Classical Greek myths.

  376.17–20 curse of Frederick . . . the philosophers] Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia, is alleged to have remarked, “If I wished to punish a province, I would have it governed by philosophers.”

  377.19 Vine evangelic, branching out] Cf. John 15:5.

  378.21–22 John’s baptistery . . . Pisa’s beauty keep?] John baptized in the River Jordan, in contrast to the great medieval baptistry in Pisa named for him.

  380.1–2 unrecorded race . . . Job implies.] Perhaps a strained reading of Job 30:3–7.

  380.11 Sydney’s clan] Philip Sydney (1554–1586), English courtier, poet, and soldier (1554–1586), killed fighting Catholics in the Netherlands, buried with great pomp in St. Paul’s in 1587, memorialized by Edmund Spenser in Astrophel.

  382.34–383.4 Pluto’s park . . . apple small.] Lines recalling passages in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, such as “Pluto’s baleful bowers” in 1.5.14.125.

  383.24–25 four kings . . . Siddim] The story of the “slaughter of Chedorlaomer” is told in Genesis 14:1–17.

  383.33 Milcom and Chemosh] Heathen gods worshipped by the aged Solomon (1 Kings 11:5–7).

  384.7–10 valley of the shade . . . even here.”] Cf. Psalms 23:4.

  385.34 Maccabees’ Masada] The hilltop fortress built by Jonathan Maccabee in the second century B.C.E., besieged (73–74 C.E.) by Roman troops under Flavius Silva. Rather than surrender, Eleazer persuaded hundreds of Jews to leap to their deaths with their children.

  385.39–40 Mariamne’s hate . . . accelerate.] Called Herodias in Mark 6, the mother of Salomé asked for the head of John the Baptist.

  389.8–9 new Jason . . . Burckhardt] In Greek mythology, Jason made an arduous voyage to Colchis to seize the Golden Fleece; for Burckhardt, see note 278.15–17.

  390.19 Puck’s platform . . . El Deir.] Rolfe’s term for the ruins of a theater in Petra, from which is visible El Dier (“the monastery,” so miscalled), a magnificent structure carved out of rock.

  390.23 the Edomite!”] Esau (Genesis 32:3).

  390.25 Sinbad’s pleasant] In early reviews of his books, Melville had been linked as an adventurer with Sinbad of the Arabian Nights, who makes seven fantastic voyages
in which he encounters fearful creatures but survives, with riches.

  390.26 Pæstum and Petra] A contrast of ancient ruins. Tourists can make pleasant day trips to the ruins of temples in the Greek city in Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea but, as Derwent says, the travelers in Clarel must leave the all but inaccessible Petra “unseen.”

  392.35 Orion’s sword] Constellation named for the giant hunter in Greek mythology, visible in both hemispheres, unlike the “Slanting Cross,” visible only in the Southern Hemisphere.

  396.12 St. Francis] St. Francis of Sales (1567–1622), not the more famous Francis of Assisi.

  399.21 no mere Pam] The jack of clubs, traditionally the lowest face or “court” card.

  400.2–3 race of thought . . . golden sun.] Cf. Dryden’s “Sigismonda and Guiscardo” (1699), lines 337–38: “But ’tis too late, my glorious race is run, / And a dark cloud o’ertakes my setting sun.”

  401.7–8 “Mad John,” . . . Vox Clamans] Matthew 3:3 applies Isaiah’s prophecy to John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”

  402.25 “mystery of iniquity:”] Thessalonians 2:7.

  403.15 Cities Five] See note 331.24.

  403.27–29 the star . . . makes gall;”] In Revelation 8:10–11, the great flaming star Wormwood falls from heaven on a third part of the rivers and on fountains, so that men die of the bitter waters.

  404.33 Burker of kind heart] Killer of those with kind hearts, from the Irish-born William Burke (1792–1829), serial murderer, who sold bodies to Robert Knox, an anatomy lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.

  405.23 Jael . . . Leah] Jael, who kills King Sisera by driving a nail into his temple (Judges 4:21), and Leah, whose father Laban tricked his nephew Jacob by substituting Leah for her sister Rachel, the one Jacob thought he had just married (Genesis 29:21–28).

  406.9 Zoima] Something like “Life” or “Life-force.”

  406.22 And still] “Then”—if you credit the wizard, then you can still see the destroyed cities through the waves.

  406.23 Franks . . . doubts debar] Westerners, being skeptical of traditions, and folklore, cannot see the overthrown cities.

  406.25–27 Seboym and Segor, Aldemah . . . widely reign.] Melville names the three less famous of the five doomed cities of the plain; Sodom and Gomorrah do not need naming. See also note 331.24.

  407.14 Armida] See note 339.20–26.

  408.11 Dismas the Good Thief] Crucified malefactor who rebuked the mocking malefactor on the other side of Jesus, who promised Dismas would be with him that day in paradise. See Luke 23:40–43 (Luke does not name the man).

  408.24 Simon Magus] Acts 8:9–24 tells of the Samarian Sorcerer who, witnessing Peter and John laying hands on believers, thereby giving them the Holy Spirit, foolishly offered them money for the power to pass on the Holy Spirit himself.

  412.7–8 “Resurget” . . . “In pace”] Will rise again. Vine adds, “in peace.”

  413.3 reminded of the psalm] See note 384.7–10.

  Part Three: Mar Saba

  415.4–27 What reveries . . . sinless pain?] These lines are “exhalings” (416.1) from the heart of “one” of the pilgrims after Nehemiah’s death—perhaps Rolfe.

  415.18–19 St. Teresa . . . Leopardi, Obermann] St. Teresa, Spanish Catholic mystic (1515–1582); and two melancholy depressives and religious skeptics, the Italian poet Count Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837) and Obermann, a character in a book by Etienne Senancour (1770–1846), known to Melville by two poems of Matthew Arnold’s. The question is, are earnest seekers like Leopardi and Obermann denied the balm shed by the angels on Teresa?

  418.12 Nimrod . . . Boone;] Nimrod (Genesis 10:9) was “a mighty hunter before the Lord”; Daniel Boone (1734–1820), the American frontiersman.

  418.30–31 Abraham looked again . . . the plain.] Genesis 19:27–28.

  419.4–5 from Teman . . . Paran] City and mountain, respectively, to the east of Israel (cf. Habakkuk 3:3).

  419.16 the red year Forty-Eight] 1848, when revolutions broke out in Sicily, France, Austria, and Prussia. See also note 304.22.

  419.29 striding God of Habakkuk.”] In Habakkuk 3, God comes from the east with indescribable power.

  422.1 MANY MANSIONS] Jesus promises that in his Father’s house are many apartments, sections of buildings, not luxurious dwellings (John 14:2).

  422.6 heavy laden . . . to me.] Jesus says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

  422.24 Sermon on the Mount] Matthew 5–7.

  422.26 Or bounds are hers . . . Python] Or, does love have bounds?; Python, pagan negation (see also note 92.11–12).

  422.29 Circe’s fooling spell] Such as the one with which this goddess of magic retarded Odysseus’s return to Ithaca after the Trojan War.

  423.12–13 club and lyceum . . . Goethe] Like superficial popular lecturers, the great German poet and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) would prefer not to think of religion as fantasized by suffering humankind.

  423.16 As some account.] “Some” would include Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

  423.25 Job’s pale group] As at Job 2:12–13.

  423.29–424.14 “Noble gods . . . the prime!”] The title of the poem is given at 425.24, “The Hymn of Aristippus.” The Greek philosopher Aristippus (c. 435–c. 356 B.C.E.) advocated the pursuit of pleasure. Melville preserved this poem in manuscript.

  424.24 what Delian?”] Here, a member of the Delian League in the fifth century B.C.E., which liberated some Greek cities from Persian control.

  424.30–33 Orpheus . . . mead] Greek singer who charmed Hades and Per­sephone and might have rescued his dead wife from the underworld had he not looked back for her too soon.

  428.2–15 Where silence . . . the ray.] From Arthur Penrhyn Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine (1857). Melville takes his description of this annual phenomenon in the monastery (said to be at the site where God spoke to Moses from a Burning Bush).

  428.37 Ormuzd . . . Ahriman] In Zoroastrianism the gods of good and evil.

  429.3 Gnostic pages] Ancient Christian heretical texts, especially of the second century C.E., often described as radically dualistic and world-denying, which promoted salvation through esoteric knowledge and mystical spirituality.

  429.31–33 Galileo pale . . . sackcloth] For his writings on the Copernican model Italian mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) was tried before the Inquisition, found guilty of heresy, and made to recant.

  430.6 seas retiring] See note 224.15.

  430.12–13 Saint Denis . . . sire and son] The basilica in Paris where the Capet kings were entombed.

  432.34–35 He tossed . . . shadow there;] See “Shelley’s Vision” on pp. 718–19 where pelting one’s shadow is a gesture of self-contempt. Hawthorne pelts his shadow in the early “Foot-prints on the Sea-Shore,” collected in the 1842 Twice-Told Tales (which he gave Melville).

  434.26–27 cheerful Paul . . . Rejoice ye evermore.”] In his 1869 essays in Cornhill, Matthew Arnold emphasized the sweet reasonableness of Paul and of Jesus. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “Rejoice evermore.”

  436.15–16 Magi tincture . . . the Captivity] The Magi were Persians absorbed during the Jewish captivity in Babylon.

  436.17 Hillel’s fair reforming school] School of Jewish law founded by Hillel the Elder that flourished in the first century B.C.E. and the beginning of the first century C.E.

  436.25–29 the Essene . . . from Galilee.] The Essene, a first century B.C.E. Jewish sect that established communal groups in the desert, rejecting the corruption of Jerusalem, precursors of John the Baptist and Jesus.

  436.4
0–437.1 Shaftesbury . . . Christ’s moan.”] The 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (1671–1713) rejected miracles and championed morality separate from religious dogma.

  437.9–11 Ceres’ child . . . Pluto] Pluto dragged Ceres’s daughter down to the underworld (through Mount Etna in Sicily) but could keep her only the darker half of the year.

  437.33 “ELOI LAMA SABACHTHANI!”] Jesus’s words on the cross: “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (cf. Matthew 27:46).

  438.11 David in Adullum’s lair] While Saul was threatening his life, David made Adullum’s cave a stronghold, taking command of some 400 men (1 Samuel 22:1).

  438.15 the Cenci portrait] Shelley’s tragedy of incest, The Cenci (1819), as well as Guido Reni’s portrait of Beatrice Cenci (c. 1600) in the Barberini Palace, fascinated both Hawthorne and Melville.

  440.25 Apollyon] In Revelation 9:11, the angel of the bottomless pit; Abaddon in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek.

  442.4 Theocritus] The founder of Greek bucolic poetry. See also note 243.25–26

  442.19–21 tents of Kedar . . . scarce comely] Cf. Song of Solomon 1:5.

  445.15 Grand Chartreuse] Monastery of the Carthusian order, in the Chartreuse Mountains, near Grenoble. Melville knew Matthew Arnold’s “Stanzas from the Grand Chartreuse.”

  445.20 St Bruno] Bruno of Cologne (c. 1030–1101), German founder of the Carthusian order of monks and nuns.

  450.15 An Arnaut] An inhabitant of Albania, especially one serving in the Turkish army.

  450.21 Scanderbeg’s Albanian brood] Gjergj Kastrioti Sanderbeg (1405–1468), also spelled Skanderbig, who called himself “Lord of Albania,” held back Ottoman Muslim encroachments on Europe.

  450.22 Arslan] Alp-Arslan (1029–1072), Turkish sultan who conquered Georgia, Armenia, and much of Asia Minor.

  450.29 Labarum] Battle flag.

  453.16 “At Cana] Where Jesus performed the first of his miracles, turning water into wine (John 2:1–11).

  454.14 armed Og] Amorite King of Bashan, one of the last of the race of giants (Deuteronomy 3:11).

  455.19 the Tishbite] That is, Elijah (1 Kings 17:1).