tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570718375010661810.post5898121070499387993..comments2024-03-15T18:01:26.787-05:00Comments on Melvilliana: dreadful gloryScott Norsworthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00458190971293597545noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570718375010661810.post-44455172090863845762013-01-07T23:36:17.395-06:002013-01-07T23:36:17.395-06:00Your analysis has certainly raised the stature of ...Your analysis has certainly raised the stature of the poem in my eyes. However, there is one aspect that I find strained--the analysis of the elimination of "slain." Given the Passion imagery, why wouldn't "slain" be kept? It certainly ties in with the last line. I resist the idea that it necessarily focuses attention on the slayer; rather, to me it suggests martyrdom. I think Wachtel may be right that it seemed too stuffily archaic. I am a bit amused that one commenter said that because "slain" was omitted, "dreadful" had to be added. That seems convoluted: because one biblical reference is eliminated, another has to be added. Perhaps Melville felt that too much Passion reference would have weakened the final idea of transcendence within darkness.<br /><br />Yes, certainly the "starry night" is the most powerful image of the poem and the clearest image. The last line is simply appended to the poem with a dash. But maybe we are inclined to see the starry night too much through the eyes of Van Gogh; perhaps Melville's image was more reverential, a view of stars as martyrs, rather than Van Gogh's unfocused turbulence. Either way, it's a great line. <br /><br />lowellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07834159022790891598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570718375010661810.post-55257837243528170192013-01-05T16:57:04.219-06:002013-01-05T16:57:04.219-06:00Jolt feels right to me, but why and how "real...Jolt feels right to me, but why and how "realistic"? Even better, lowell, you say "beyond the understanding of conventional devotion." Yes! Agreed, only I think we might enrich our understanding of the poem by considering the crazy way Melville uses, adapts traditional symbols and imagery of the Passion, what--narrative? drama? for uncomfortably unconventional effects. <br /><br />Neither version of Melville's inscription offers the slain/dead subjects a Sunday School heaven. The biblical-sounding language describes transcendent human actions. From any orthodox perspective then, Melville's take on their fate must seem (characteristically, right?) blasphemous. Glory does not signify heaven, glory means the earthly kind of immortality, the hero's proper and well-earned reward for valorous deeds. In their quest for earthly glory Melville's Union heroes figuratively re-enacted the Passion of Christ. <br /><br />They got the glory they sought. Dreadful is right, but the adjective reflects an emotional response anyhow I look at it. <br /><br />I had not thought much about unity, rather I was thinking how Melville's little poem breaks open the whole universe in the terrific line,<br /><br /> "Death to the brave's a starry night,---"<br /><br />What does THAT mean? I'm still pondering--it reminds me of a line somewhere in Clarel, "There's something to look up to yet." Scott Norsworthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00458190971293597545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570718375010661810.post-12810619049438933452013-01-03T23:07:33.280-06:002013-01-03T23:07:33.280-06:00Lovely work.Lovely work.Hershel Parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03919613095448470289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8570718375010661810.post-64006226264478592752012-12-30T21:37:30.712-06:002012-12-30T21:37:30.712-06:00Your analysis of religious language certainly help...Your analysis of religious language certainly helps us understand the poem's unity. But I believe that much of Wachtel's thrust is still valid. The "dreadful," as you note, adds an "uncomfortable" and "terrifying" dimension. The "glory" alone would have been a tepid beginning for a poem with powerful language. Even though the "dreadful glory" may have been a conventional Protestant view of an awesome God's judgement, the phrase has its own jarring effect in the poem's context--a realistic jolt that may go beyond the understanding of conventional devotion.<br /> <br /> lowellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07834159022790891598noreply@blogger.com