Robinson Jeffers Summary

Biography EssayBecause he thought "poets lie too much," Robinson Jeffers said in his foreword to The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers (1938), he decided "not to pretend to believe in ... irreversib... Read more

Because he thought "poets lie too much," Robinson Jeffers said in his foreword to The Selected Poetry (1938) he decided "not to pretend to believe in ... irreversible progress; not to say anything bec... Read more

In the following review of Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems, Monroe disparages the long poems in the volume but praises such short poems as "Woodrow Wilson" and "Night."... Read more

In the essay below, Brophy places Jeffers's work in the context of the American West, concluding "the westering experience was for [Jeffers the exemplar of all journeys. Western motifs g... Read more

In the following review of Rock and Hawk, Vendler provides an overview of Jeffers's career, concluding Jeffers "will remain a notable but minor poet. " The poet Robinson Jeffer... Read more

In this review of The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Everett finds Jeffers's doctrine of "inhumanism " incompatible with the demands of tragic narrative and suggests that t... Read more

Winters was a prominent American poet and critic who maintained that all good literature must serve a conscious moral purpose. In the negative review of Dear Judas below, he examines the themes and na... Read more

In this excerpt from a review of The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, Schwartz discusses Jeffers's treatment of such themes as science, war, and nature. Although only half of his poetry ... Read more

Dickey was an American poet and critic. In the excerpt below, he suggests that despite Jeffers's conspicuous flaws, he is a poet of greatness and power. Now that Robinson Jeffers is dead, hi... Read more

In the essay below, Nolte surveys critical reception to Jeffers's work, concluding that after many years of suffering critical disdain, his reputation is once again on the rise. When Robinso... Read more

Critical Essay by Delmore Schwartz [The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers] presents a sufficient span of writing … to give any reader a just conception of what Jeffers has done. Above all, t... Read more

Critical Essay by Ruby Cohn A contemporary of Stevens and Frost, Jeffers differs from them in his long free lines and his unrelieved solemnity. Though he turned to dialogue more often than they did, ... Read more

Critical Essay by Babette Deutsch In Robinson Jeffers we find a poet concerned … with the cosmos in which man is but a momentary flicker, [and] the magnificent strophes of this strangely obscu... Read more

Critical Essay by Edward A. Nickerson Even a casual reading leads one to conclude that much of Robinson Jeffers' poetry is profoundly apocalyptic. Fires, deluges, storms, and earthquakes menac... Read more