Table of contentsSynopsisEarly livesSea voyages and early writing successes"Moby-Dick" and other worksThe famous American author Herman Melville wrote "Moby-Dick" and several other sea adventure novels , before later turning to poetry in his literary career. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essaySynopsisHerman Melville was born in New York in 1819. He worked as a crewman on several ships beginning in 1839, his experiences spawning his successful early novels Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847). Later books, including his masterpiece Moby-Dick (1851), sold poorly, and in the 1860s Melville turned to poetry. After his death in New York in 1891, he was posthumously considered one of the great American writers. e" in the family name following the death of her husband). In the mid-1820s, young Herman fell ill with scarlet fever, and although he regained his health shortly thereafter, his vision remained permanently impaired by the disease. The family enjoyed a prosperous life for many years thanks to Allan Melvill's success as an importer and high-end merchant. However, he also borrowed heavily to finance his business interests, and after moving his family to Albany. upstate in an unsuccessful attempt to enter the fur trade in 1830, the family's fortunes took a major hit When Allan died suddenly in 1832, his eldest son's finances declined significantly. 'Allan, Gansevoort, took control of the family fur and cap business in New York after his father's death, while Herman Melville worked in a bank to help make ends meet over the years. 1830, he was enrolled at the Albany Academy and the Albany Classical School, where he studied classical literature and began writing poems, essays, and short stories. He left Albany in 1837 for a teaching position in Massachusetts, but found the work unsatisfying and soon returned to New York. That year, Gansevoort's fur and cap trade came to a halt, placing the Melvilles in a dire financial situation. The family moved to Lansingburgh, New York, and Herman enrolled at Lansingburgh Academy to study surveying, hoping to find employment with the new Erie Canal project. Sea voyages and first successes in writing. Unable to secure a coveted job, Melville instead followed Gansevoort's suggestion to work. as a crew member on a boat. In 1839, he signed on as a cabin boy on a merchant ship called the St. Lawrence, which traveled from New York to Liverpool, England, and back. In 1841, Melville undertook his second sea voyage after being hired to work aboard the Acushnet, a whaling ship. His subsequent wild voyage was the spark for his still-unfinished literary career: after arriving in the Marquesas Islands of Polynesia in 1842, Melville and a crewmate deserted ship and, soon after, were captured by local cannibals. Although Melville was treated well, he escaped after four months aboard another whaling ship, the Lucy Ann, and was imprisoned after joining the crew in a mutiny. He eventually ended up in Hawaii before returning to Massachusetts aboard the USS United States, arriving home more than three years after his departure. Melville immediately set about putting pen to paper to capture his experiences. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846), a combination of his personal accounts and imagined events, attracted attention for its detailed descriptions of the.