Author Study: Herman Melville
Learn about Herman Melville and his books. Melville was a prominent novelist, short story writer, and poet of nineteenth century America. Included are links to sites about the writer’s life and the following works: “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” “Moby Dick,” “Billy Budd,” “The Confidence Man,” and “Typee,” as well as his poetry. There are eBooks, a lesson plan, a quiz, and discussion questions.
Grades
- 6,
- 7,
- 8,
- 9,
- 10,
- 11,
- 12
Links
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Herman Melville Biography
Learn about Herman Melville's background, life, travels, and see a list of his various works.
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PBS: The American Novel: Herman Melville
Read about Herman Melville and see how he fits in the context of over 200 years of American literature. NOTE: This site contains banner ads.
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The Melville Society
This is the official site of The Melville Society, an organization dedicated to scholarship on and appreciation of the works of Herman Melville. The site has internal links to society publications, conference news, multimedia, and an image gallery.
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Bartleby.com: "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street"
Read the text of Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener." NOTE: This site contains banner and other ads.
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EDSITEment!: Launchpad: "Bartleby, the Scrivener," by Herman Melville
Reflect on the deeper meaning of Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" with this suite of discussion questions about the story and characters.
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Project Gutenberg: "Typee"
Download and read a free copy of Melville's novel "Typee" in HTML, EPUB, Kindle, and other formats from Project Gutenberg.
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Project Gutenberg: "The Confidence-Man"
Read a downloadable eBook copy of Herman Melville's story "The Confidence-Man" in a variety of formats.
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Internet Public Library 2: Sites About "Moby Dick; or, the Whale"
This site provides links to critical and non-critical sites about Melville's novel "Moby Dick". NOTE: The site links to social networking sites and subsequent sites link to discussion boards.
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Project Gutenberg: "Moby Dick"
Download a free copy of "Moby Dick" in HTML, EPUB, Kindle, and other formats from Project Gutenberg.
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Spaghetti Book Club: Book Review: "Moby Dick"
Read a middle school student's review of the book "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville on this Web page from the Spaghetti Book Club.
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Discovery Education: Lesson Plan: "Moby Dick"
This lesson plan from Discovery Education includes discussion questions, suggested readings, links to whale-related websites, and vocabulary terms. The grade levels for these exercises are 9-12 and the length of the lesson is two class periods. NOTE: This site contains banner and sidebar ads.
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"Billy Budd" Hypertext
Read Herman Melville's short novel with easy access to a dictionary for difficult terms, explanations of allusions and nautical references, illustrations, commentary, and manuscript notes.
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"Billy Budd" Vocabulary Quiz
Quiz students on their knowledge of terms found in Herman Melville's final novel with this 20 word/definition matching exercise.
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Poetry Foundation: Herman Melville
In his later years Herman Melville turned to poetry as his favored creative outlet. This Web page presents a brief biography of the writer as a poet and links to sixteen of his poems.
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Poets.org: Herman Melville
Read a biography of Herman Melville and follow links to six of his poems. NOTE: This site includes banner ads, other ads, and external links.
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New Bedford Whaling Museum
Learn about the history of whaling on this site by the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
Education Standards
- AL
- MO
- ME
- NV
- UT
- OK
- IL
