Synopses & Reviews
Review
"In May of 1989 I worked at the late, lamented Olsson's Books and Records in Washington, DC. Being a bona fide poetry lover, I leapt at the opportunity of engaging with a poet I'd never read before. In fact, I'd never heard of the guy. How was I to know that it would end up being a life-changing experience?
The poet was Robinson Jeffers, and the book was Robinson Jeffers: Selected Poems, a small volume published by Vintage. I was swept off my feet. Jeffers was a voice I'd never imagined: powerful, visionary, rhythmic, singing of eternal verities, and turning a merciless eye to the comings and goings and self-important bombast of humankind." Chris Faatz, Powells.com (Read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopsis
Robinson Jeffers was one of the most controversial poets of the twentieth century. In this volume, essential poems selected from his major works provide an excellent overview of Jeffers's style and the themes present throughout his work. Drawn from volumes published throughout his career,, among themBe Angry at the Sun;Hungerfield;The Double Axe;Roan Stallion;Tamar and Other Poems; as well asThe Beginning and the End, which contains his last poems, these poems will introduce new readers to his inimitable voice, while also gathering in one place some of his best work for his confirmed fans."
Synopsis
From "The Purse-Seine":
I thought, We have geared the machines and locked all
together into interdependence; we have built the
great cities; now
There is no escape. We have gathered vast populations
incapable of free survival, insulated
From the strong earth, each person in himself helpless,
on all dependent. The circle is closed, and the net
Is being hauled in. They hardly feel the cords drawing,
yet they shine already. The inevitable mass-disasters
Will not come in our time nor in our children's, but we
and our children
Must watch the net draw narrower, government take all
powers -- or revolution, and the new government
Take more than all, add to kept bodies kept souls -- or
anarchy, the mass disasters.