“A Medley Mad of Each Extreme”: Melville’s “An Afternoon in Naples in the Time of Bomba” as Moral Quest

Abstract:As one of the many poems left in manuscript at the time of Melville’s death, “An Afternoon in Naples in the Time of Bomba” has remained relatively neglected in the critical recognition of the author’s poetry over the last half-century. The poem nevertheless possesses considerable merits as an evocation of the legendarily beautiful city of Naples under the brutal regime of King Ferdinand II, based on Melville’s own visit to the city in early 1857. A careful reading of the poem discloses that it is patterned around a thematic binary based on the literary and artistic motifs of carpe diem (“seize the day”) and memento mori (“remember death”). The speaker’s afternoon tour around the city thus provides him with repeated opportunities to experience a variety of sensual pleasures while also being made aware of the perilous condition of the Neapolitans under the twin threats of political repression and volcanic eruption.