Dupont’s Round Fight (November, 1861)

By Herman Melville 1819–1891 Herman Melville

In time and measure perfect moves

All Art whose aim is sure;

Evolving rhyme and stars divine

Have rules, and they endure.

Nor less the Fleet that warred for Right,

And, warring so, prevailed,

In geometric beauty curved,

And in an orbit sailed.

The rebel at Port Royal felt

The Unity overawe,

And rued the spell. A type was here,

And victory of LAW.

Biography

Although chiefly known for his magisterial novel Moby-Dick and for other prose works, Herman Melville was also a fascinating poet who turned to the art after his serious fiction failed to find appreciative readers. His eccentric verse displays the complexity of thought and verbal richness of his novels, which has led some critics to rank him just below Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson among 19th-century American poets.

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