The panel concludes a two-part survey of Melville’s reading of the Civil War as viewed through his Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) by discussing poems on Stonewall Jackson, the Surrender at Appomattox, and post-war America.

– Thoughtful Analysis of Essential Literature
The panel concludes a two-part survey of Melville’s reading of the Civil War as viewed through his Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) by discussing poems on Stonewall Jackson, the Surrender at Appomattox, and post-war America.
The panel analyses contradiction in Melville’s earliest and latest published poems: three selections from Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War–his first collection–and “Art” from Timoleon and Other Ventures, published only four months before his death.