Robinson Jeffers Critical Essay | Critical Review by Harriet Monroe

Critical Review by Harriet Monroe

SOURCE: A review of Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems, in Poetry, Vol. 28, June, 1926, pp. 160-64.

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."

"Tamar" and all the final three-fifths of this book [Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems] were exhaustively reviewed by James Daly in Poetry [in August, 1925] so that the present writer need only record her hearty agreement with that review, her recognition of the "deep poetic compulsion" in Mr. Jeffers' usually distinguished art. All the more is it to be regretted that the title-poem of this larger book, if not 'prentice-work dug up and retouched, as I suspect, is of a quality quite unworthy of the author of "Tamar." But it is doubtful whether even the most accomplished artistry would excuse the deliberate...
(read more)