[Prestidigitweeze]

In certain ways, Melville's poetry has the particularity and sinuous (if not sonorous) perversity of his prose.

The strangest part of it all is his tin ear: the jaw-breaking, jar-bricking use of meter, alliteration and sibilance -- all of which can make reciting his stanzas feel a bit like chewing rocks.

I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Melville had the misfortune to be raised in one of the only Christian denominations that didn't involve music, and that this left him without a sense of poetic cadence. I don't know whether that's true, but the irony is that his ear for prose was impeccable. His fiction can have the opulence of Keats and the oceanic sweep of Milton -- all without the singsong repetitiousness of verse -- and that's part of what keeps you reading.

His poetry should be included because it's instructive and gives you insights into his strengths.