DOCSLIB.ORG

Jsvol 16.1.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Jsvol 16.1.Pdf J EFFERS S TUDIES V O L U M E 16 N U M B E R S 1 & 2 S P R I N G & F A L L 2012 A Double Issue C o n t e n t s E D I T O R ’ S N O T E iii Scholarly Articles The Shamanic Archetype in Robinson Jeffers’s Poetry Steven B. Herrmann 1 The Cosmological Dimension of Jeffers’s Poetry Steven Chapman 35 Robinson Jeffers, W. B. Yeats, and Ecoprophecy Deborah Fleming 65 Mara: The Poem of Foreboding Robert Zaller 87 Book Reviews 99 Inventing the Language to Tell It by George Hart Reviewed by Greg Williams Robinson Jeffers and the American Sublime by Robert Zaller Reviewed by James Karman Garth Jeffers Recalls His Father, Robinson Jeffers: Recollections of a Poet’s Son. by Audrey Lynch Reviewed by Robert Zaller Obituaries 116 Kyuja Yoo Kafka, Helen Tartar, Alex Vardamis Contributors 120 Cover Photo: Robinson Jeffers in the Doorway of Hawk Tower, c. 1925, by Lewis Josselyn. from a copy in the archives of the tor house foundation. for a discussion of this image, see page 25 in this issue. iii Editor’s Note Readers of the works of Robinson Jeffers are familiar with the energy- based explanation of existence coupled with a monistic philosophy that the poet presented from the 1920’s onward. From Jeffers’s viewpoint, all existence, even that of inanimate forms, is driven by an ancient and vast energy transformation system which, on our planet, has resulted in life, and ultimately in the life of human beings. All parts of the system are connected, and none is more important than any other. Furthermore, all of it is destined to cease to exist, not just the living beings, but the universe itself. All of this is divine, all of it God, including ourselves, shards of divinity. Jeffers adds as a further explanation of our human role: we can recognize and honor our share of this immense universe, but only if we shed the human concern with personal self-centeredness, which results in frustration, heartbreak, greed, and war. This forecast is hard to understand intellectually, and even more difficult to embrace emotionally, even for Jeffers himself; one may think of his entire work as an attempt to fully engage and cope with the implications of this worldview. The four essays which appear in this issue of Jeffers Studies approach the problems noted above from different perspectives, and each helps us to deepen our understanding of Jeffers’s great vision. I begin with the shortest essay and move to the longer ones because each article approaches the philosophy differently, beginning with the problems of one Jeffersian main character. In “’Mara:’ The Poem of Foreboding,” Robert Zaller analyzes one of the short narratives which has had little attention from other critics. This poem deals in one sense with a problem which plagues all monistic systems: if all is part of one vast whole in which no part is more important than any other, how can one choose a course of action which is informed by anything more than personal self-seeking? Zaller includes Bruce Ferguson, the main character of “Mara,” as one of those he has identified in his earlier critical works as Jeffers’s “heroes of endurance.” Such characters recognize the truth of the philosophy described above, and each reacts to this knowledge differently. Ferguson, emotionally shattered by his wife’s infidelity, can Jeffers Studies 16.1-2 (Spring & Fall 2012), iii-v. Copyright © 2015 Jim Baird. All Rights Reserved. iv Jeffers Studies find no moral reason to condemn or avenge this act which is finally just the instinctive behavior of another animal. Zaller details how Ferguson is trapped between his personal rage and sorrow and his inability to fully accept the indifference of nature. Deborah Fleming has contributed to this journal before with essays concerning her two favorite poets, W. B. Yeats and Jeffers. Her “Robinson Jeffers, W.B. Yeats, and Ecoprophecy” continues this line of investigation by examining the links between these artists in terms of not only stylistic and symbolic similarities but also their fondness for towers. From these symbolic structures, which rise above and separate them from the rest of human society, but also, through that withdrawal, allow for continued healing meditation. This ability to reflect allows both to rise above the charnel house of the twentieth century to a bond with nature which is permanent and rewarding in contrast to a human adventure fated for tragedy. Professor Fleming’s essay is a slightly different version of a chapter from her forthcoming book, Towers of Myth and Stone: Yeats’ Influence on Robinson Jeffers, which will be published by the University of South Carolina Press in 2015. Steven Chapman investigates Jeffers’s philosophy from the standpoint of physics in his “The Cosmological Dimension of Jeffers’s Poetry.” Including a thorough review of the scientific discoveries of the 1920s through the 1950s, he explains how the poet’s awareness of the debates over the origin of the universe and its essence in terms of space and time informed and reinforced the poet’s view of all existence as a consequence of the immense energy from which it sprang and which still drives it. Chapman also points out that Jeffers was selective in his use of such theories; the poet knew that science can help us understand truth, but it is finally a description which, because of its evolving nature and its limitation to the investigation of physical reality, cannot give us all that we need to cope with the conditions it reveals. Steven Herrmann shows how Jeffers used tools other than science and superficial observation of nature to expand his worldview in order to help us do that coping in “The Shamanistic Archetype in Robinson Jeffers’s Poetry.” In view of Jeffers’s often stated antipathy to heroism, messianic purpose, and other themes which would endow him with a leadership role which he not only did not covet but which did not fit his philosophy, it is surprising to think of Jeffers as a shaman—a spiritual leader—but Herrmann’s analysis of Jeffers’s poetry shows that many of the themes and devices that Jeffers employs have been used by shamans for thousands of years to achieve the kind of spiritual breakthrough from the mere physical existence of the universe to a transcendent understanding not formed from logic. In addition, Herrmann touches on the works of Carl Jung and D. H. Lawrence, and uses the work of some of the same Editor’s Note v scientists whom Steven Chapman discusses in describing Jeffers’s work on the shamanistic plane. In addition, this issue also contains reviews of three recent books about Jeffers. Robert Zaller reviews Audry Lynch’s Garth Jeffers Recalls His Father, Robinson Jeffers, the product of her interviews with Jeffers’s son. James Karman takes time out from his editing of the final volume of Robinson and Una Jeffers’s letters to evaluate Robert Zaller’s comprehensive Robinson Jeffers and the American Sublime. Finally, Greg Williams reviews Inventing the Language to Tell It: Robinson Jeffers and the Biology of Consciousness by George Hart, a previous editor of Jeffers Studies. Greg is the longtime typesetter of this journal and also an independent scholar of Jeffers’s work. He has decided to end his typesetting duties, but this review is first appearance here as a critic, and we hope it will not be the last. 1 Steven B. Herrmann The Shamanic Archetype in Robinson Jeffers’s Poetry I The Call From Without It was in an essay called “Psychology and Literature” that C. G. Jung postulated two kinds of artistic creation, the psychological and the visionary. In Jung’s view, which Robinson Jeffers was well aware of (Herrmann, Visionary Artist), it is the non-psychological type of literary creation that paradoxically offers the richest opportunities for psychological elucidation, and he cites Moby-Dick as the greatest American novel (CW 15: 137). One of Jung’s students, the Jungian analyst Joseph L. Henderson, who had many links to Big Sur, went further than Jung had done to introduce a Pacific Coast sensibility into archetypal literary theory by asserting that shamanism is historically the root for the prototype of the “seer-poet” (or the “prophet-poet-sage”), and that all true philosophic attitudes arise from the archetype of the shaman (89-91). This is an idea that was picked up and developed by my former Jungian analyst, Donald F. Sandner, in the field of analytical psychology (Herrmann, “Sandner”). But it was my late friend and mentor, William Everson, who first enabled me to see its crucial importance for the evolution of American poetry (Herrmann, Conversation; Shaman’s Call). My comments here are an attempt at homage for his totemic presence in my own development as a literary historian. I think of shamanism as a symbolic process of transformation that takes place at an emotional and an instinctive level, and as a method of ecstasy it forms itself into an image that is archetypal. This archetype, which in 2002 (following the leads of Everson and Sandner) I called the shamanic archetype, takes on concrete form through ritual enactments of dreams, spirit visitations, and inner visions that are performed through ritual drama or poetry. As a spiritual practice shamanism is based on Jeffers Studies 16.1-2 (Spring & Fall 2012), 1-33. Copyright © 2015 Steven B. Herrmann. All Rights Reserved. 2 Jeffers Studies a pattern of behavior, an inborn form of perceiving the inner and outer Cosmos, that forms the inner idea informing an instinct for activity that leads to artistic representation and operates in close relation to an effort to heal personal, social, and environmental imbalances.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Poetry of Robinson Jeffers
    The Poetry of Robinson Jeffers 1 Table of Contents The Poetry of Robinson Jeffers About the Book.................................................... 3 “Permanent things, About the Author ................................................. 4 or things forever Historical and Literary Context .............................. 7 Other Works/Adaptations ..................................... 8 renewed, like the Discussion Questions............................................ 9 grass and human Additional Resources .......................................... 10 passions, are the Credits .............................................................. 11 material for poetry...” Preface The poetry of Robinson Jeffers is emotionally direct, magnificently musical, and philosophically profound. No one has ever written more powerfully about the natural beauty of the American West. Determined to write a truthful poetry purged of ephemeral things, Jeffers cultivated a style at What is the NEA Big Read? once lyrical, tough-minded, and timeless. A program of the National Endowment for the Arts, NEA Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Managed by Arts Midwest, this initiative offers grants to support innovative community reading programs designed around a single book. A great book combines enrichment with enchantment. It awakens our imagination and enlarges our humanity. It can offer harrowing insights that somehow console and comfort us. Whether you’re a regular reader already or making up for lost time, thank you for joining the NEA Big Read. NEA Big Read The National Endowment for the Arts 2 About the Book Introduction to Robinson Jeffers The poetry of Robinson Jeffers is distractingly memorable, not only for its strong music, but also for the hard edge of its wisdom. His verse, especially the wild, expansive narratives that made him famous in the 1920s, does not fit into the conventional definitions of modern American poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • Big Sur for Other Uses, See Big Sur (Disambiguation)
    www.caseylucius.com [email protected] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Big Sur For other uses, see Big Sur (disambiguation). Big Sur is a lightly populated region of the Central Coast of California where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. Although it has no specific boundaries, many definitions of the area include the 90 miles (140 km) of coastline from the Carmel River in Monterey County south to the San Carpoforo Creek in San Luis Obispo County,[1][2] and extend about 20 miles (30 km) inland to the eastern foothills of the Santa Lucias. Other sources limit the eastern border to the coastal flanks of these mountains, only 3 to 12 miles (5 to 19 km) inland. Another practical definition of the region is the segment of California State Route 1 from Carmel south to San Simeon. The northern end of Big Sur is about 120 miles (190 km) south of San Francisco, and the southern end is approximately 245 miles (394 km) northwest of Los Angeles. The name "Big Sur" is derived from the original Spanish-language "el sur grande", meaning "the big south", or from "el país grande del sur", "the big country of the south". This name refers to its location south of the city of Monterey.[3] The terrain offers stunning views, making Big Sur a popular tourist destination. Big Sur's Cone Peak is the highest coastal mountain in the contiguous 48 states, ascending nearly a mile (5,155 feet/1571 m) above sea level, only 3 miles (5 km) from the ocean.[4] The name Big Sur can also specifically refer to any of the small settlements in the region, including Posts, Lucia and Gorda; mail sent to most areas within the region must be addressed "Big Sur".[5] It also holds thousands of marathons each year.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dark Glory : Robinson Jeffers and His Philosophy of Earth Time and Things
    Title: The dark glory : Robinson Jeffers and his philosophy of earth time and things Author: Tadeusz Sławek Citation style: Sławek Tadeusz. (1990). The dark glory : Robinson Jeffers and his philosophy of earth time and things. Katowice : Uniwersytet Śląski The Dark Glory Robinson Jeffers and His Philosophy of Earth Time & Things Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ślqskiego w Katowicach nr 1086 TADEUSZ SŁAWEK THE DARK GLORY Robinson Jeffers and His Philosophy of Earth Time & Things Uniwersytet Ślqskr Katowice 1990 Editor of the series: History of Foreign Literatures ALEKSANDER ABLAMOWICZ Reviewer WIESLAW KRAJKA Cover design ! r\ Halina Lerman 1 ') \A / f V f Executive Editor Jeizy Stencel Technical Editor Mirosław Gąsowski i \ m Proof-reader Barbara Misiak Copyright (g) 19S0 by Uniwersytet Śląski All rights reserved Published by Uniwersytet Śląski ul. Bankowa 14, 40-007 Katowice First im pression. Edition: 250+38 copies. Printed sheets: 9,5. Publishing sheets: 13,5. Passed to the Printing House in June, 1989. Signed for printing and printing finished in February 1990. Grade of paper: offset III, 70X100, 80 g. Order No. 866/89 Price: zł 2000,— Printed by Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Śląskiego ISSN 0208-6336 ul. 3 Maja 12, 40-096 Katowice ISBN 83-226-0305-3 O ooos Contents Foreword • 7 Abbreviations • 9 1. Landscape # 11 2. Landscape & Time • 22 3. Gathering Sticks • 28 4. Romanticism & the Minimal Difference • 5. Earth, World & the Trick of Nature # 48 6. Perspective • 57 7. Man • 66 8. Man & Time • 81 9. The Moment of Destruction • 93 10. The Dark Glory # 109 11. The Sense of En-DING • 138 Bibliography # 142 Miscellanea • 145 Summary in Polish • 150 Summary in Russian • 151 The scenery was marvelous — a hardly inhabited country — mountains 4000 feet high standing on the ocean-cliff — streams in every canyon — and the immense sombre redwood trees, towering straight up, with trunks thirty feet or more in circumference.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dark Glory : Robinson Jeffers and His Philosophy of Earth, Time & Things
    TADEUSZ SŁAWEK DARK GLORY Robinson Jeffers and His Philosophy of Earth Time & Things Uniwersytet Slqski Katowice 1990 The Dark Glory Robinson Jeffers and His Philosophy of Earłh Time & Things Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ślqskiego w Katowicach nr 1086 TADEUSZ SŁAWEK THE DARK GLORY Robinson Jeffers and His Philosophy of Earth Time & Things Uniwersytet Ślqskr Katowice 1990 Editor of the series: History of Foreign Literatures ALEKSANDER ABŁAMOWICZ Reviewer WIESŁAW KRAJKA Cover design t л Halina Lerman 1 ')\Л / f v J f Executive Editor Jw zy Stencel Technical Editor ^\J Mirosław Gąsowski i \ m Proof-reader Barbara Misiak Copyright (g) 19S0 by Uniwersytet Śląski All rights reserved Published by Uniwersytet Śląski ul. Bankowa 14, 40-007 Katowice First impression. Edition: 250+38 copies. Printed sheets: 9,5. P u b lish in g sh e ets: 13,5. P assed to the Printing House in June, 1989. Signed for printing and printing finished in February 1990. G rad e of p ap er: o ffset III, 70X100, 80 g. Order No. 866/89 Price: zł 2000,— Printed by Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Śląskiego ISSN 0208-6336 ul. 3 Maja 12, 40-096 Katowice ISBN 83-226-0305-3 O ooos Contents Foreword • 7 Abbreviations • 9 1. Landscape # 11 2. Landscape & Time • 22 3. Gathering Sticks • 28 4. Romanticism & the Minimal Difference • 5. Earth, World & the Trick of Nature # 48 6. Perspective • 57 7. Man • 66 8. Man & Time • 81 9. The Moment of Destruction • 93 10. The Dark G lory Ф 109 11. The Sense of En-DING • 138 Bibliography • 142 Miscellanea • 145 Summary in Polish • 150 Summary in Russian • 151 The scenery was marvelous — a hardly inhabited country — mountains 4000 feet high standing on the ocean-cliff — streams in every canyon — and the immense sombre redwood trees, towering straight up, with trunks thirty feet or more in circumference.
    [Show full text]
  • Jeffers Studies Volume 4 Numbers 2 & 3 Spring & Summer 2000 Jointly Sponsored By
    QQQ Quark XPress Jeffers Studies Volume 4 Numbers 2 & 3 Spring & Summer 2000 Jointly Sponsored by Occidental College Demo California State University Long Beach Robinson Jeffers Association Robinson Jeffers: A Bibliography of CQuarkriticism, 19121949 XPress Demo QQQ Front cover: An exhibit of four items from the extensive Jeffers Collection at California State University Long Beach. The centerpiece is William Eversons world-famous mas- terwork, Granite and Cypress: Rubbings from the Rock, seventeen Jeffers stone-han- dling poems on wide horizontal format allowing full flow of Jefferss long line and utilizing reverse imprints on the left-hand page. It stands in its slipcase of handcrafted Monterey cypress centered with a square of polished granite from Jefferss stoneyard. To its right stands Marlan Beilkes Shining Clarity: God and Man in the Works of Robinson Jeffers, with photos by Horace Lyon and Lumir Bissenger, an acrylic of Tor House by QuarkKenneth Jack, and a bronze medal of Jeffers by Czechoslovakian sculptor Lumir Sinde- lar, its slipcase highlighted by a bronze profile of Jeffers individually sand-cast by author Beilke. In the foreground left is Apology for Bad Dreams (Paris: Harry Ward Ritchie, 1937), Jefferss ars poetica, printed as a Ritchie masterproject for Paris printer extraor- dinaire François-Louis Schmied. To its left is the much-loved Jeffers narrative The Lov- ing Shepherdess in a special 1956 edition with original etchings by Jean Kellogg and design by Merle Armitage. The collection was one of the last available
    [Show full text]
  • The Poet As Ethnographer: Robinson Jeffers in Big
    ROBINSON JEFFERS: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES T HE P OET AS E THNOGRAPHER : R OBINSON J EFFERS IN B IG S UR By John Walton Jeffers wrote about real people and places, some- obinson Jeffers (1887–1962) times by name, often in recognizable fictional settled on the thinly populated characters and settings, always rooted in social coast of central California in context, and plotted in recurrent human dra- R the early twentieth century and mas. His poetry is suffused with a sense of the began writing stories of pioneering families and place and people of Big Sur. Here, by his own their majestic surroundings that would define the testimony, Jeffers found his poetic mission. As poet and the place called Big Sur. In the 1920s novelist Henry Miller, a long-term resident of and 1930s, he became one of the nation’s most Big Sur in a later period, observed, “[t]he rugged celebrated poets. His art was the narrative poem, pioneers who settled here needed only a voice to major works running one or two hundred pages make known their secret drama. And Jeffers is and based on the land and legends of the Califor- that voice.”1 nia coast. A horseman high-alone as an eagle on the spur of the mountain over Mirmas Canyon draws rein, looks down At the bridge-builders, men, trucks, the power-shovels, the teeming end of the new coast-road at the mountain’s base. He sees the loops of the road go northward, headland beyond headland, into gray mist over Fraser’s Point, He shakes his fist and makes a gesture of wringing a chicken’s neck, scowls and rides higher.
    [Show full text]
  • Mythic Fantasy and Inhumanist Philosophy in the Long Poems of Robinson Jeffers and Gary Snyder Patrick Murphy
    beyond humanism mythic fantasy and inhumanist philosophy in the long poems of robinson jeffers and gary snyder patrick murphy Robinson Jeffers and Gary Snyder have been recognized as two American poets who present strong philosophical positions in their poetry, particularly in their long poems, and both have been adopted as major literary representatives of the Deep Ecology movement in America. Critics have given some attention to their philosophies; they have, however, tended to gloss over the use of the fantastic in these same poems, with its role in enabling the presentation of philosophical positions in contradiction to Western logocentrism and Judeo-Christian humanism left undiscussed. I wish to focus here precisely on this relationship between the use of fan­ tasy, particularly mythic fantasy, and the presentation of alternative post- humanist philosophies in the works of these two California authors. But before doing so, I want to emphasize their significance as philosophical poets whose ideas are taken seriously by contemporary readers. This may in turn contribute to understanding why Jeffers was either villified or ig­ nored by the New Critics, and why recognition of Snyder was delayed due to critical infatuation with confessional poetry. The increasing popularity, to the degree that we can call an American poet popular, of Jeffers and Snyder has tended to parallel the rise of the second wave of ecology in the United States in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. 0026-3079/89/3001 -0035$01.50/0 53 In 1963, a year after Jeffers' death, a reader could find only two volumes of his poetry in print, both hardcover editions by Random House: the slim posthumous collection, The Beginning and the End and Other Poems, just published; and the much larger Selected Poetry, still being printed from the 1938 plates of the first edition.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013 C O N T E N T S
    J EFFERS S TUDIES V O L U M E 17 2013 C o n t e n t s Editor’s Note iii A Note on the Contents Robert Kafka 1 Preface William Everson 4 Scholarly Article 7 William Everson THE FAR-CAST SPEAR A Foreword to The Women at Point Sur by Robinson Jeffers Newly Revised and Enlarged from Fragments of an Older Fury Brother Antoninus oyez 1966 Afterword Steven Herrmann 60 Book Reviews The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers, and the Selectied Letters of Una Jeffers Edited by James Karman Reviewed by Geneva Gano 67 The Wild That Attracts Us: New Critical Essays on Robinson Jeffers Edited by Shaunanne Tangney Reviewed by James Baird 76 Robinson Jeffers: Poet and Prophet by James Karman Reviewed by Brett Colasacco 81 Contributors 84 iii Editor’s Note This issue of Jeffers Studies is the fruit of a friendship. William Everson, poet and printer, known as Brother Antoninus during the period when he was a Dominican lay brother, 1951-69, wrote two books about Jeffers’ work, Robinson Jeffers: Fragments of an Older Fury and The Excesses of God. Late in life he gave his friend Steven Herrmann, scholar and Jungian psychologist, a revised version of the chapter from the former book which concerned Jeffers’ longest and most vexing poem, The Women at Point Sur. Everson charged Herrmann with the task of seeing that this final version of his thoughts on Jeffers’ poem was published. That revised chapter is the bulk of this issue, which includes a preface to the revision by Everson himself, an account of issues encountered while preparing it for publication by Rob Kafka, and an afterword in which Herrmann explains in greater detail the points which Everson raises.
    [Show full text]
  • 31295002083052.Pdf (17.03Mb)
    ^ A PRODUCTION OF ROBINSON JEFPERS» MEDEA by J. Patterson Rogers A THESIS IN THEATRE ARTS Submitted to the Graduate Faculty ';3' of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Approved AuguW, 1973 _y /973 Lop. «^ PREFACE My interest in Robinson Jeffers' Medea began in connection with a class assignment in the course Studies in the Production of Pre-Modern Drama at Texas Tech University during the summer of 1969. Out of these studies there evolved a full production of the play, under my direction, in the Laboratory Theatre of the Departraent of Speech and Theatre Arts during the fall of 1970. Eight public performances were given October 15-21. This document is a record of the production. Chapter I includes the research and analysis that was done prior to actual production work. Chapter II contains a record of the design elements of the production, some of which were done by the director and others of which were done by other persons under the director's supervision. Chapter III pertains to the audition procedure, rehearsals, sched- ules, and performances. Chapter IV is comprised of the prompt book, including the script, charts of movement, business, and technical cues. Chapter V consists of pro- duction photographs and Chapter VI is an evaluation of the production. Following Chapter VI is the Bibliography and an Appendix that includes the production program and news- paper reviews. ii y I wish to express to the cast and production staff my appreciation for their dedicated interest and in particular to acknowledge the efforts of Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Machine in Selected Lyric Poetry of Robinson Jeffers Mark Hutton East Tennessee State University
    East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 12-2017 Only the Earth Remains: Exploring the Machine in Selected Lyric Poetry of Robinson Jeffers Mark Hutton East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons, Environmental Education Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Other American Studies Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, and the Poetry Commons Recommended Citation Hutton, Mark, "Only the Earth Remains: Exploring the Machine in Selected Lyric Poetry of Robinson Jeffers" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3322. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3322 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Only the Earth Remains: Exploring the Machine in Selected Lyric Poetry of Robinson Jeffers ________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Literature and Language East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in English ______________ by Mark A. Hutton December 2017 ________________ Dr. Scott Honeycutt, Chair Dr. Jesse Graves, Committee Member Dr. Kevin O’Donnell, Committee Member Keywords: Robinson Jeffers, Leo Marx, Pastoral, Machine Motif ABSTRACT Only the Earth Remains: Exploring the Machine in Selected Lyric Poetry of Robinson Jeffers by Mark A. Hutton In The Machine in the Garden: Technology and the Pastoral Idea in America, Leo Marx “evaluates the uses of the pastoral ideal in the interpretation of American experience” (Marx 4).
    [Show full text]
  • Robinson Jeffers
    Robinson Jeffers: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center Descriptive Summary Creator: Jeffers, Robinson, 1887-1962 Title: Robinson Jeffers Collection Dates: 1885-1967, undated Extent: 23 boxes (9.66 linear feet), 2 galley folders (gf), and 3 oversize folders (osf) Abstract: Consists chiefly of works and correspondence of the American poet Robinson Jeffers. Present are manuscripts for The Double Axe, Medea, and The Women at Point Sur and drafts of many individual poems. Along with much correspondence to and from family, friends, colleagues, and admirers are letters, legal papers, and financial records from Jeffers' publishers. Also included are some papers of Jeffers's wife, Una Call Jeffers, and of the noted Jeffers biographer Melba Berry Bennett. Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-2170 Language: English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish Access: Open for research Administrative Information Processed by: Joan Sibley and Apryl Voskamp, 2014 Note: This finding aid replicates and replaces information previously available only in a card catalog. Please see the explanatory note at the end of this finding aid for information regarding the arrangement of the manuscripts as well as the abbreviations commonly used in descriptions. Repository: The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center Jeffers, Robinson, 1887-1962 Manuscript Collection MS-2170 2 Jeffers, Robinson, 1887-1962 Manuscript Collection MS-2170 Works: Unidentified narrative poems: notes and fragments Container 1.1 Unidentified; A Container 1.2 At
    [Show full text]
  • Jeffers Studies Volume 10 Number 1 Spring 2006 Contents
    Jeffers Studies Volume 10 Number 1 Spring 2006 Contents Editors Note iii RJA Bulletin Presidents Message Peter Quigley, RJA President 20062008 1 Articles One Temper with the Granite: The Troubling Achievement of Robinson Jefferss EcologicAl Lyric Temple Cone 5 Rationalism and the Great Memory of the World: A Study of Yeats and Jeffers Deborah Fleming 27 Jefferss Evolutionary Muse: A Reading of The Unformed Volcanic Earth Steven Chapman 55 Book Review Faith in NAture: Environmentalism as Religious Quest by Thomas Dunlap Reviewed by C. Travis Webb 83 News and Notes 89 Contributors 95 Editors Note This issue of Jeffers Studies gives readers much to consider. Not only the three scholarly articles that place Jefferss work in a variety of con- texts and analyze it from multiple angles, but also a book review of an environmental history of interest to our readers and an account of Jefferss induction in The Poets Corner at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. Sadly, it also contains an obituary for Jeff Norman, cultural and natural historian of the Big Sur region, fan of Jeffers, and friend of the RJA. In this way, Jeffers Studies contin- ues to serve its readers and members of the RJA on all fronts, present- ing the best in current scholarship and criticism on Jeffers, locating and reviewing discussions of Jeffers in the culture at large, and provid- ing information on and relevant to the Jeffers community. Although the date on this issue is 2006 (we continue to work towards currency in our biannual issues), this year, 2008, marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Robert J.
    [Show full text]