'The White Whale' of Andreas Empeirikos as a poetic response to Herman Melville's Moby Dick

The article discusses Andreas Empeirikos' poem titled "The White Whale" and examines it as a poetic response to Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. In this poem, Empeirikos portrays an "epiphany of the past recaptured", which is experienced by Ishmael, the narrator of both Melville's and Empeirikos' works. Through his deep connection with the ocean and the world around him, Ishmael, Empeirikos' poetic persona, recaptures the emotional richness inspired by the sight of a re-enchanted world and seeks to glorify the white whale. This pursuit involves a rejection of materialism and an embrace of a visionary and idealised surreal world embodied by the white whale - a symbol of a New Jerusalem.