ENG 304: Melville & Ellison

Billy Budd was not what Herman Melville considered “finished” when he passed away, and as such further work may have been done on it. What ideas, thoughts, and plans did…

Billy Budd is a story that turned out nothing like I expected. What I thought was going to be a simple story about a young sailor turned out to be…

Herman Melville’s poem Shiloh is a written representation of the Battle of Shiloh that was fought in April 1862 in southwestern Tennessee. As we discussed in class, this battle marked…

I wanted to touch on the The Portent for a moment to discuss the positives of Melville’s poetry. Before I began reading the poetry for the book, I had my…

In contrast to the majority opinion, “Donelson” was the one poem that I understood the most out of those that we read for Friday’s class. I felt like I was…

Throughout Billy Budd, Melville makes numerous biblical allusions, especially when referring to Billy. After Billy kills Claggart, Vere refers to him as the “vessel of an angel”. To Vere, the…

In class we were asked what the novel, Billy Budd, is really about. In my opinion, Billy Budd is a story about good and evil and the loss of innocence.…

One of the biggest questions raised about the story of “Billy Budd” is the strictness with which Captain Vere and the people aboard the Bellipotent adhere to the laws of…

Babo, in my opinion, is the most interesting character in all of Benito Cereno. Despite being a slave, he finds a way to take control of the ship with his…

In Harman Melville’s Billy Budd the titular character is repeatedly displayed and characterized as a well meaning, innocent character. Everyone seems to feel the seeming good energy that radiates from…