"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."Herman Melville, best known for writing Moby Dick, was an American writer whose poetry perhaps goes largely unheralded. Undeservedly so, he was considered by some as the first modernist poet in the United States. It would obviously be hard to establish ones poetry after the rousing success of his novels. However Melville's poetry is both insightful and descriptive and despite being in the shadow of his larger works is an incredible and challenging read for fans of Melville and poetry alike.