ABSTRACT
In August of 1866 Herman Melville surprised his reading public by publishing a book of poetry entitled Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War. A parenthetical statement of purpose prefaces this collection:
[With few exceptions, the Pieces in this volume originated in an impulse imparted by the fall of Richmond. They were composed without reference to collective arrangement, but, being brought together in review, naturally fall into the order assumed.
