Gansevoort, his older brother, was bankrupt, and Melville had to rely on wealthy relatives for financial assistance. Once early adventure drew his interest for the sea, he set sail aboard a whaling vessel. ... Melville's first novel, Typee, described his adventure and captivity in the South Seas as well as his second novel, Como. ... Ishmael is a thoughtful and gloomy young man who lived in New Bedford, a whaling town where he sees memorial plaques to lost sailors and the terrors of the whale. ... Captain Ahab is portrayed as an ungodly man who often considers himself to be godlike i...

• Word Count: 1160
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Poe's paternal grandfather had been a wealthy man, but his father, David Poe, had left the family to become an actor, and Edgar was left with nothing. ... During the fall of 1823, when Edgar was fourteen years old, his classmate Robert Stanard introduced Poe to his mother, Jane Stanard, who was a beautiful and compassionate young woman. ... In the first of the poem's three stanzas, Poe compares Helen's beauty to the ships of Nicea, a city near the Sea of Marmara. ... In 1835 Poe married his cousin Virginia, only thirteen years old at the time, and then left her and her mother in...

• Word Count: 3026
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

It is these images that help to set the stage for those twisted conflicts, which Poe so effectively portrays. ... The reader is told that the narrator appears to be a happily married man, who has always been exceedingly kind and gentle. ... As the narrator begins to depict his story in the form of a rather subtle flashback, the reader discovers that the man's personality has undergone a drastic transformation, which he attributes to his abuse of alcohol and the perverse side of his nature, which the alcohol apparently evoked, as it serves as a catalyst. ...

• Word Count: 4324
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School