Emersonian Pragmatism and Melville's Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War.
Although a number of scholars argue that Melville's Battle-Pieces sounds a warning that partakes of both admonition and consolation, that remains sceptical just as it tentatively affirms the possibilities of a new and bright future, too many claim that Melville's faith in the crowd and the ideals of...
| Published in: | Forum for Modern Language Studies Vol. 46; no. 3; pp. 267 - 297 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jul2010
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=51958319&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 51958319 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00158518 BI0 jtl: Forum for Modern Language Studies issn: 00158518 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jul2010 vid: 46 iid: 3 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 51958319 10.1093/fmls/cqq008 ppf: 267 ppct: 30 formats: tig: atl: Emersonian Pragmatism and Melville's Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War. aug: au: West, Andrew affil: English Department University of Kansas 1445 Jayhawk Boulevard Lawrence, KS 66045 USA su: Battle-Pieces & Aspects of the War (Book) Melville, Herman, 1819-1891 Admonition Consolation Epithets Versification sug: subj: Battle-Pieces & Aspects of the War (Book) Melville, Herman, 1819-1891 Admonition Consolation Epithets Versification keyword: Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War Civil War Emerson Emerson, Ralph Waldo Herman Melville Melville, Herman poetry pragmatism Ralph Waldo ab: Although a number of scholars argue that Melville's Battle-Pieces sounds a warning that partakes of both admonition and consolation, that remains sceptical just as it tentatively affirms the possibilities of a new and bright future, too many claim that Melville's faith in the crowd and the ideals of the Founding Fathers can nowhere be found. Yet, the very style of the Battle-Pieces, which so many have dismissed with epithets like “grotesque” and “prosaic” and “turgid”, opens up a path by which the scholar may account more fully for Melville's optimism while recuperating his “graceless” versification. With the help of Ralph Waldo Emerson, I show that Melville's “amateurish” verse helps him to fashion what Stanton Garner calls “a poetics of his own”: a poetics that, subverting traditional definitions and practices, creating slippages and uncertainties, reinvigorating and redefining words and ways, invites the reader in not merely to help author the text but to engage in action, action that will ultimately help to rebuild America anew. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2010 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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