Herman Melville (1819 –1891) was an American poet and novelist of the American Renaissance, best
known for his allusive adventure novel “Moby-Dick.” “The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade” is the
ninth and the final large poem of the author. Onboard the boat floating down the Mississippi to New
Orleans, the Devil himself decides to entertain himself and assumes various guises to expose passengers. Intriguing masquerade and identity shift combined with the witty satire of the society and the American dream.