The Influence of Two Years before the Mast on Herman Melville

Abstract

T N I840 HARPER AND BROTHERS published Richard Henry Dana's IL Two Years Before the Mast.' The instantaneous and really remarkable popularity of the book created a familiar situation-a new market for publishers. Factual voyage narratives, written from a forecastle-eye point of view, defiantly truthful, and sanguine about their own moral influence upon sailors and the general public alike, almost overnight became a publishing mainstream.2 Even Cooper momentarily abandoned his intricate plotting and careful, formal characterizations to try his hand at the new literary rage.3 Whatever may be the significance of all this in the context of other discussions, it is directly relevant to an analysis of the influence of Two Years upon Melville's work. If Dana's book was primarily responsible for the publishing of this body of literature-and it was-then the extent to which Melville made use of these works when he appeared on the literary scene a few years later is the measure of a kind of indirect influence which Two Years exercised upon him. Melville's use of them was marked and extensive. He refers, directly, to at least fifteen such factual narratives-including Two Years-throughout his writing.4 Thus at the outset it is clear that Melville can be