Herman Melville Herman Melville was an American author of the Romantic period who was also considered to be a transcendentalist. This meant that his focus was on nature and how we should live vicariously through nature and try to combat with nature. Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st of 1819. He is the third child and second son of his father, Allan Melville, and mother, Maria Gansevoot. At age five or six he began attending the New-York Male High School. Upon competition of the New-York Male High School he attended the Columbia Grammar School in New York. At this time his father’s business is starting