Herman Melville’s Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War: at the Height of Their Madness, the Night Winds Pause, Recollecting Themselves; But No Lull in These Wars.

At the height of their madness, The night winds pause, Recollecting themselves; But no lull in these wars. Herman Melville’s Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War takes the form of seventy-two narrative poems that deal with the different events of the American Civil War. The poems, which survey the history of the conflict between the North and the South, are arranged in a chronological order and depict the behavior of the individuals in the opposing parties. Starting to write right after the end of the war, Melville enjoyed considerable first-hand experience with the events, though not directly taking part in them like many members of his own family. The poems depict the details of the campaigns and the battles that took place as well as the atrocities and the carnages that they caused. Generally, the remarkable thing about Melville’s accounts is that they refuse to blindly take sides and try instead to present different insights and meditations about the historical conflict. Soldiers belonging to both sides of the battlefront are portrayed as being brave, patriotic and committed to the cause they defended. Nevertheless, Melville seems to be convinced that one of the two patriotic forces was right. His poems implicitly urge all faithful Americans to forget their misunderstandings and unite anew for the sake of the nation.