Melville's and History
A victory at the Battle of Trafalgar cemented my reputation as the "greatest sailor of all time" in British naval history and made me a role model for Captain Vere
Who is Horatio Nelson?
The first three letters of my name are the Latin root for truth
Who is Captain Vere?
Billy is described as this animal, "fresh from the pasture suddenly inhaling a vile whiff by some chemical factory, and by repeated snortings trying to get it out of his nostrils and lungs."
What is a horse?
In the end of Benito Cereno, we find out that this was "artificially stiffened and empty" the entire time.
What is a scabbard?
This ending in Benito Cereno makes the entire story ironic
What is the Deposition?
As the preeminent psychoanalyst of the 19th century, I would have liked a chance to get John Claggart on my couch.
Who is Sigmund Freud?
The name of this ship means Strength in War
What is the Bellipotent?
Captain Delano takes to negroes like this animal from Canada.
What is a Newfoundland dog?
This was an unsubstantiated rumor about Bartleby.
What is he worked in a dead Letter Office in Washington D.C.
Babo uses this cloth to cover his master during the shaving scene.
What is the Spanish flag?
These two mutinies were on Vere's mind.
The Spithead and the Nore Mutinies.
The title of Melville's pilgrimage poem of 18,00 lines, the longest poem in the English language rhymes with "apparel."
What is Clarel?
Captain Delano wonders if the oakum pickers have been appointed as shepherds to this group of animals.
What is a flock of black sheep?
The narrator calls this version of Billy's story "the rude utterance" from another foretopman.
What is Billy in the Darbies?
The lawyer refers to Bartleby, a young man of few words, to this plaster-of-paris bust of this famous orator.
Who is Cicero?
This 1789 event more than likely influenced Vere's decision to uphold naval law
What is The French Revolution?
"Angeles" is an anagram for the place where Babo wanted to be transported.
What is Senegal?
According to Delano, Babo is like this animal because of the way he "mutely turns his face" towards his sorrowful master
What is a shepherd's dog?
The final resting place of Bartleby is this prison
What is The Tombs?
Delano says that the foundering ship upon which a violent mutiny and genocide had taken place looks like this.
What is a monastery?
This collection of 72 lyric and narrative poems by Melville focuses on the results the personalities of the men involved in this event.
What is the Civil War?
The name of Vere's favorite essayist/ philosopher means "mountain" in French
Who is Montaigne?
The narrator compares Babo's head to the lair of this apiary creature.
What is the hive of subtlety?
To them a chip of the spar was as a piece of the cross or an NHL hockey team.
Who are the bluejackets?
In Melville's poem, "Swamp Angel," the swamp angel is this.
What is a gun or cannon?