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Clarel

a poem and pilgrimage in the Holy Land
Melville, Herman (1819-1891)

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CLAREL
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VOL. I.
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PART I. JERUSALEM.
  
I. THE HOSTEL.
 2. 
II. ABDON.
 3. 
III. THE SEPULCHRE.
 4. 
IV. OF THE CRUSADERS.
 5. 
V. CLAREL.
 6. 
VI. TRIBES AND SECTS.
 7. 
VII. BEYOND THE WALLS.
 8. 
VIII. THE VOTARY.
 9. 
IX. SAINT AND STUDENT.
 10. 
X. RAMBLES.
 11. 
XI. LOWER GIHON.
 12. 
XII. CELIO.
 13. 
XIII. THE ARCH.
 14. 
XIV. IN THE GLEN.
 15. 
XV. UNDER THE MINARET.
 16. 
XVI. THE WALL OF WAIL.
 17. 
XVII. NATHAN.
 18. 
XVIII. NIGHT.
 19. 
XIX. THE FULFILMENT.
 20. 
XX. VALE OF ASHES.
 21. 
XXI. BY-PLACES.
 22. 
XXII. HERMITAGE.
 23. 
XXIII. THE CLOSE.
 24. 
XXIV. THE GIBE.
 25. 
XXV. HUTS.
 26. 
XXVI. THE GATE OF ZION.
 27. 
XXVII. MATRON AND MAID.
 28. 
XXVIII. TOMB AND FOUNTAIN.
 29. 
XXIX. THE RECLUSE.
 30. 
XXX. THE SITE OF THE PASSION.
 31. 
XXXI. ROLFE.
 32. 
XXXII. OF RAMA.
 33. 
XXXIII. BY THE STONE.
 34. 
XXXIV. THEY TARRY.
 35. 
XXXV. ARCULF AND ADAMNAN.
 36. 
XXXVI. THE TOWER.
 37. 
XXXVII. A SKETCH.
 38. 
XXXVIII. THE SPARROW.
 39. 
XXXIX. CLAREL AND RUTH.
 40. 
XL. THE MOUNDS.
 41. 
XLI. ON THE WALL.
 42. 
XLII. TIDINGS.
 43. 
XLIII. A PROCESSION.
 44. 
XLIV. THE START.
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Part II THE WILDERNESS.
 1. 
I. THE CAVALCADE.
  
II. THE SKULL-CAP.
 3. 
III. BY THE GARDEN.
 4. 
IV. OF MORTMAIN.
 5. 
V. CLAREL AND GLAUCON.
 6. 
VI THE HAMLET.
 7. 
VII GUIDE AND GUARD.
 8. 
VIII. ROLFE AND DERWENT.
 9. 
IX. THROUGH ADOMMIN.
 10. 
X. A HALT.
 11. 
XI. OF DESERTS.
 12. 
XII. THE BANKER.
 13. 
XIII. FLIGHT OF THE GREEKS.
 14. 
XIV. BY ACHOR.
 15. 
XV. THE FOUNTAIN.
 16. 
XVI. NIGHT IN JERICHO.
 17. 
XVII. IN MID-WATCH.
 18. 
XVIII. THE SYRIAN MONK.
 19. 
XIX. AN APOSTATE.
 20. 
XX. UNDER THE MOUNTAIN.
 21. 
XXI. THE PRIEST AND ROLFE.
 22. 
XXII. CONCERNING HEBREWS.
 23. 
XXIII. BY THE JORDAN.
 24. 
XXIV. THE RIVER-RITE.
 25. 
XXV. THE DOMINICAN.
 26. 
XXVI. OF ROME.
 27. 
XXVII. VINE AND CLAREL.
 28. 
XXVIII. THE FOG.
 29. 
XXIX. BY THE MARGE.
 30. 
XXX. OF PETRA.
 31. 
XXXI. THE INSCRIPTION.
 32. 
XXXII. THE ENCAMPMENT.
 33. 
XXXIII. LOT'S SEA.
 34. 
XXXIV. MORTMAIN REAPPEARS.
 35. 
XXXV. PRELUSIVE.
 36. 
XXXVI. SODOM.
 37. 
XXXVII. OF TRADITIONS.
 38. 
XXXVIII. THE SLEEP-WALKER.
 39. 
XXXIX. OBSEQUIES.
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VOL. II.
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PART III. MAR SABA.
 1. 
I. IN THE MOUNTAIN.
 2. 
II. THE CARPENTER.
 3. 
III. OF THE MANY MANSIONS.
 4. 
IV. THE CYPRIOTE.
 5. 
V. THE HIGH DESERT.
 6. 
VI. DERWENT.
 7. 
VII. BELL AND CAIRN.
 8. 
VIII. TENTS OF KEDAR.
 9. 
IX. OF MONASTERIES.
 10. 
X. BEFORE THE GATE.
 11. 
XI. THE BEAKER.
 12. 
XII. THE TIMONEER'S STORY.
 13. 
XIII. SONG AND RECITATIVE.
 14. 
XIV. THE REVEL CLOSED.
 15. 
XV. IN MOONLIGHT.
 16. 
XVI. THE EASTER FIRE.
 17. 
XVII. A CHANT.
 18. 
XVIII. THE MINSTER.
 19. 
XIX. THE MASQUE.
 20. 
XX. AFTERWARD.
 21. 
XXI. IN CONFIDENCE.
 22. 
XXII. THE MEDALLION.
 23. 
XXIII. DERWENT WITH THE ABBOT.
 24. 
XXIV. VAULT AND GROTTO.
 25. 
XXV. DERWENT AND THE LESBIAN.
 26. 
XXVI. VINE AND THE PALM.
 27. 
XXVII. MAN AND BIRD.
 28. 
XXVIII. MORTMAIN AND THE PALM.
 29. 
XXIX. ROLFE AND THE PALM.
 30. 
XXX. THE CELIBATE.
 31. 
XXXI. THE RECOIL.
 32. 
XXXII. EMPTY STIRRUPS.
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PART IV. BETHLEHEM.
 1. 
I. IN SADDLE.
 2. 
II. THE ENSIGN.
 3. 
III. THE ISLAND.
 4. 
IV. AN INTRUDER.
 5. 
V. OF THE STRANGER.
 6. 
VI. BETHLEHEM.
 7. 
VII. AT TABLE.
 8. 
VIII. THE PILLOW.
 9. 
IX. THE SHEPHERDS' DALE.
 10. 
X. A MONUMENT.
 11. 
XI. DISQUIET.
 12. 
XII. OF POPE AND TURK.
 13. 
XIII. THE CHURCH OF THE STAR.
 14. 
XIV. SOLDIER AND MONK.
 15. 
XV. SYMPHONIES.
 16. 
XVI. THE CONVENT ROOF.
 17. 
XVII. A TRANSITION.
 18. 
XVIII. THE HILL-SIDE.
 19. 
XIX. A NEW-COMER.
 20. 
XX. DERWENT AND UNGAR.
 21. 
XXI. UNGAR AND ROLFE.
 22. 
XXII. OF WICKEDNESS THE WORD.
 23. 
XXIII. DERWENT AND ROLFE.
 24. 
XXIV. TWILIGHT.
 25. 
XXV. THE INVITATION.
 26. 
XXVI. THE PRODIGAL.
 27. 
XXVII. BY PARAPET.
 28. 
XXVIII. DAVID'S WELL.
 29. 
XXIX. THE NIGHT RIDE.
 30. 
XXX. THE VALLEY OF DECISION.
 31. 
XXXI. DIRGE.
 32. 
XXXII. PASSION WEEK.
 33. 
XXXIII. EASTER.
 34. 
XXXIV. VIA CRUCIS.
 35. 
XXXV. EPILOGUE.

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From Baalbec, for a new sojourn,
To Jewry Rolfe had made return;
To Jewry's inexhausted shore
Of barrenness, where evermore
Some lurking thing he hoped to gain—
Slip quite behind the parrot-lore
Conventional, and—what attain?
Struck by each clear or latent sign
Expressive in the stranger's air,
The student glanced from him to Vine:
Peers, peers—yes, needs that these must pair.
Clarel was young. In promise fine,
To him here first were brought together
Exceptional natures, of a weather
Strange as the tropics with strange trees,
Strange birds, strange fishes, skies and seas,
112

To one who in some meager land
His bread wins by the horny hand.
What now may hap? what outcome new
Elicited by contact true—
Frank, cordial contact of the twain?
Crude wonderment, and proved but vain.
If average mortals social be,
And yet but seldom truly meet,
Closing like halves of apple sweet—
How with the rarer in degree?
The informal salutation done,
Vine into his dumb castle went—
Not as all parley he would shun,
But looking down from battlement,
Ready, if need were, to accord
Reception to the other's word,—
Nay, far from wishing to decline,
And neutral not without design,
May be.—
“Look, by Christ's belfry set,
Appears the Moslem minaret!”
So—to fill trying pause alone—
Cried Rolfe; and o'er the deep defile
Of Kedron, pointed toward the Town,
Where, thronged about by many a pile
Monastic, but no vernal bower,
The Saracen shaft and Norman tower
In truce stand guard beside that Dome
Which canopies the Holy's home:
“The tower looks lopped; it shows forlorn—
A stunted oak whose crown is shorn;
But see, palm-like the minaret stands
Superior, and the tower commands.”
“Yon shaft,” said Clarel, “seems ill-placed.”
“Ay, seems; but 'tis for memory based.
The story's known: how Omar there
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After the town's surrender meek—
Hallowed to him, as dear to Greek—
Clad in his clouts of camel's hair,
And with the Patriarch robed and fine
Walking beneath the dome divine,
When came the Islam hour for prayer
Declined to use the carpet good
Spread for him in the church, but stood
Without, even yonder where is set
The monumental minaret;
And, earnest in true suppliance cried,
Smiting his chest: “Me overrule!
Allah, to me be merciful!”
'Twas little shared he victor-pride
Though victor. So the church he saved
Of purpose from that law engraved
Which prompt transferred to Allah sole
Each fane where once his rite might roll.
Long afterward, the town being stormed
By Christian knights, how ill conformed
The butchery then to Omar's prayer
And heart magnanimous. But spare.”
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