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FIESS, Edward, 1914-
BYRON AND BYRONISM IN THE MIND AND ART
OF HERMAN MELVILLE.
Yale University, Ph.D., 1951
Language and Literature, modem
University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan
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COPYRIGHT EY
EDWARD FIESS
1965
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DOM JCAM
And therefore will I leave off metaphysical
■J
Discussion, which i« neither here nor there: *
If I agree that what is, is; then this I call
Being quite perspicuous and extremely fair;
The truth ;s, I've grown lately rather phthisical:
I don't know what the reason is—the air
Perhaps; but as I suffer from the shocks
Of illness, I grow much more orthodox.
The first attack at once proved the Divinity
(But that 1 never doubted, nor the Devil);
The next, the Virgin’s mystical virginity;
The third, the usual Origin of Evil;
The fourth at once established the whole Trinity
On so uncontrovertible a level,
That 1 devoutly wish'd the three were four,
On purpose to believe so much the more.
VII.
To our theme. — The man who has stood on the
Acropolis,
And look'd down over Attica; or he
Who has sail'd where picturesque Constantinople is
Or seen Timbuctoo, or hath taken tea
In small-eyed C hina’s crockery-ware metropolis,
Or sat amid-t the bricks of Nineveh,
May not think much of London's first appearance—
But ask him what he thicks of it a year hence?
m I
W ’ t
An Annotation by M elville
in his Set of Byron's Life and Works
(See Appendix B, under Works, X, 167)
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BYRON AND BYRCNISM IN THE MIND
AND ART OP HERMAN MELVILIE
by
Edward Fless
A D issertation
Presented to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Yale University
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
1951
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Summary
. In this dissertation, which is the firs t to survey systemat
ically the indebtedness of M elville to Byron, I have drawn not
only upon the published work of M elville throughout a period of
thirty-five years but also upon his manuscripts and the marginalia
in his books. In a prelim inary chapter I have discussed a number
of methodological questions in order to clarify the scope and pur
pose of the following pages. A fter a survey of the European and
American reputations of Byron, with particular attention to the
literary circle in which M elville spent his formative years, there
follows an analysis of "Fragments from a Writing-Desk," the
derivative Juvenilia in which M elville was strongly under the in
fluence of Byron and the Orientalism of Thomas Moore and others.
Typee and Omoo show M elville under the sway of the Romantic
primitivism which Byron and others had expressed, but in Mardl.
M elville's firs t work of some scope, I have disclosed new evidence
of direct Byronic influence In Its concern with philosophic ques
tions, In its discussions of the role of the w riter, and in the
Titanism of its hero. This Titanism continues more strongly in
Moby-Dlck and P ierre, the la tte r being the most Byronic of Mel
v ille ^ books and a pivotal point in this study. I have also
found that Byron had a hitherto unsuspected role in the formation
of M elville’s sea-symbolism. In this area, for example, M elville's
memorization of Byron's "Address to the Ocean" can be traced in
the words and phrases from it that crop up in clusters throughout
M elville’s work. Pierre has a most complex relationship to direct
and indirect Byronlsm, to the rumors that firs t began to circulate
during Byron's lifetim e, and to M elville's own probable identi
fication with Byron.
A fter Pierre the influence of Byronic themes upon Mel
v ille 's work gradually waned as his interest grew in Byron the man
and the s a tiris t. This in terest I have traced in the pages of the
Journal Up the S traits and in the extensive markings and annota
tions in M elville's set of Byron's Life and Works. recently brought
to light and here studied for the firs t time. This set provides
interesting sidelights on M elville as a reader and as a student of
versification; I have supplemented the discussion with new firs t
hand studies of his book-marking in general.
In the present study I have sought to demonstrate not only
that Byron and Byronlsm were M elville's strongest links to the
Romantics but also that Byron's work its e lf was a major influence
on M elville's art during his most creative period. One of the
fundamental explanations of M elville's attractio n, in my view, is
to be found in the Calvinism which, even while they struggled
against it, imposed a lasting form on the thinking of both men.
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Preface
The illu stratio n s in this study are contact-prints
taken with the Contoura, the invention of Mr. P. G. Ludwig
of the Sterling Library, Yale U niversity. Because of the
properties of the photographic paper used, which increases
contrast, these prints should not be taken as accurate re
productions of the texture of M elville's pencil-marking.
The purpose of th eir inclusion is to clarify the notations
in Appendix B, to which the text occasionally refers. I am
indebted to Mr. Ludwig for instruction in the use of the
Contoura, at a time when this portable device was not yet
marketed commercially. Its use has greatly aided my work by
facilitatin g the comparison of various specimens of M elville's
handwriting and book-markings.
To Dr. Carol Van Buren Wight, the present owner of the
set from which the prints were taken, and to Mrs. Wight I owe
many thanks not only for permission to use these volumes but
also for hospitality generously extended. My debts to others
are numerous. I t would be possible, for example, to name many
members of the M elville Society from whom I have received
assistance, beginning with Mrs. Eleanor M elville M etcalf, who
has aided so many students of her grandfather's work. Among
others who should be mentioned are Walter Bezanson, M errell
Davis, Miss Elizabeth Poster, William H. Gilman, Tyrus Hillway,
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Thomas A. L ittle, Gordon Roper, and especially Merton M. Sealts,
who permitted me to consult some of his work while it was s till
in proof.
For replying to my inquiries, I am thAnkful to Leslie
A. Marchand, of Rutgers U niversity, Merlin S. Bowen of the
University of Chicago, Charles B. Blanchard, of the staff of
L ittle , Brown 8e Company, Dr. James H. Wall, Medical Director
of The New York H ospital, W estchester Division, and Miss Fanny
C. Howe, of the Troy Public Library. The lis t could be ex-
tended^ But I must conclude with a simple mention of the
librarians of the New York Public, Houghton, Widener, and
Sterling L ibraries, who were most helpful in the consultation
of the M elville manuscripts and association volumes in th eir
charge.
Norman Holmes Pearson has helped with suggestions and
advice. Gratitude is due in special measure to Stanley T.
W illiams, the director of th is dissertation as of so many
others on Herman M elville; he has guided my work with friend
liness and patience. Patience has been displayed also by Mrs.
Rhea Holtz, who had to follow rather complicated instructions
in typing such parts as Appendix B, and by my w ife, whose
assistance was not confined to that virtue.
Edward Fiess
July, 1950
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TABLE OP ABBREVIATIONS
Bk. : Book (in P ierre)
sec. : section
Ch., Chs. : Chapter, Chapters
sc. : scene
s t. : stanza, stanzas
1., 11. : line, lines
CHP : Chllde Harold’s Pilgrimage
DJ : Don Juan
Life : Vols. I-VI of the 1833 edition, i.e . Moore’s
Life of Byron
Works : Vols. VTI-XVII of the 1833 edition
Poetry J E. H. Coleridge’s edition of 1903
Letters : R. E. Prothero’s edition of 1903
HL : Houghton Library, Harvard University
NYPL : The New York Public Library
M etcalf : The collection of Mrs. Eleanor M elville M etcalf,
Cambridge, Mass.
D : Duyckinck Collection
GL : Gansevoort-Lansing Collection
0 : Collection of Mrs. A. D. Osborne
(i, l) : Roman and Arabic numerals thus enclosed in
parmfctheees indicate the volume and page of
a M elville citation in the Constable edition
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TABLE OP CONTENTS
Preface........................................................................................................
Table of Abbreviations ................................... ......................
Chapter One Prelim inaries ...................... ...............................
1. Byron and M elville: A Comparison...............................
2. Previous Studies: Hints and Suggestions . . . .
3. General Problems: The Influence Study ..................
4. Specific Problems: The Indebtedness of
M elville to Byron .....................................................
5. M aterials and Aims..............................................................
Chapter Two Byron—Work and Reputation................................
1. Byron*s Work and Its Relationship to the
Rom antics . .
2. The Reputation—Byron*s Life and Work ..................
a. The Reputation In England ...................................
b. The Reputation In America ...................................
.
3 Summary....................................................................................
Chapter Three The Early Years and the Popular Novels,
1839-1849 ............................................
1. Youth and Juvenilia: The "Fragments from a
Writing-Desk" ............................................
2. The South Seas: Tvpee and Omoo...................... . . .
3. The M elville Circle: N.P. W illis, Hoffman,
Bayard Taylor, E.A. Duyckinck...........................
4. The Sailor*s Life: Redbum and White Jacket . .
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Chapter Pour Development and Achievement: Mardl
and Moby-Dick.............................. 101
1. Approach to Achievement: M ardi......................................102
a. The Romantic W riter....................... 102
b. M elville the Byronic Thinker ................................ I ll
c. The Byronic Hero as Byronic Thinker......................116
2. Hawthorne......................... 130
3. The Height of Achievement: Moby-Dick...........................138
a. Byron's Dark Blue Ocean and M elville's
Metaphysical Seas ..............................138
b. The Byronic Hero and Ahab the T itan......................151
Chapter Five The Decline: Pierre to the Journal
Up the S tra its......................159
1. The W riter as Titan and Byronist: Pierre . . . . 160
2. The W riter as Exile: Israel Potter to the
Journal Up the S tra in s ...............................................179
Chapter Six The Silent Years—1860-1876..................................193
1. The Beginnings of M elville's Poetic Career . . . 194
2# M elville's Book-Marking. .......................................198
3. M elville's Life and Works of Byron . . . . . . . 203
4. M elville's Later Reading . . . . . ..........212
Chapter Seven The Romantic and Byronic Influence . . . . 220
1. The Other Romantics.................................................................221
2. Byron and Byronlsm in Herman M elville:
Recapitulation .............................................................. 231
3. Evaluation and Conclusions ............................................. 238
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