Critical Analysis
The Piazza by Herman Melville represents the transcendence of place and time from the narrator’s point of view. The author uses the transition of nature’s life processes to depict time frames. For example the narrative starts with a quote describing the essence of the beauty of the countryside. To enumerate, the author describes the time, his views of the place and on an old house. In describing these items in parallel, the author depicts his imaginative journeys jumping from time to time and place to place.
The Piazza begins with the author describing
a house in the country where the scenic view from
within has been outlined in great detail. In the
process the writer feels that the only vital component
that is missing from the scene a piazza where
he could have enjoyed the view being indoors while
enjoying the outdoors at the same time. At the
same time the author praises the farmhouse where
he is currently dwelling, reflecting on how the
house would be like during different seasons of
the year. One of the elements that is prominent
from his description of the house and its parable
to season of the year is that beauty is relevant
to time and place. The house viewed in winter
would be different from its view in summer. Similarly,
the same house would seem different if viewed
from the East, West, South or North. The sacredness
and beauty is thus inherent in the time and place,
and not really in the architecture of the house.
In using the house as a parable, the author is actually attempting to explain phases of life and emotions change with time and place. Like nature people change their views depending on the place and time in which they exist. Time is therefore the prime illusionist. To illustrate, the author recount in most explicit detail the movement of the worms and the slimy creature’s roles in life at that point in time.
Using the worm’s parable, the author illustrates with humbleness life passages. Life passes by but man is left alone, time stops for no one. At the same time it is different for different people. At the end of the story where the author meets a lonely girl, sitting and looking longingly at the farmhouse where she presumes that place to be happy and its inhabitants too exuberant, he is to reveal to her otherwise.
Thus, time as depicted by Melville follows its own rules; it does changes perception, emotions, and views etc. Although, Melville does not out rightly writes of this law of nature, he uses the house as a focal point for depicting it. As a central point in the story, the farmhouse is different from what it seems to be, if one views it from different angles, different venue and different time frame. From The Piazza, one learns that understanding the law of time, passage of life phases and place makes one wonder about the differences between realities and illusions.
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