The Early Poetry of Robert Graves

The Goddess Beckons

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, British
Cover of the book The Early Poetry of Robert Graves by Frank L. Kersnowski, University of Texas Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Frank L. Kersnowski ISBN: 9780292700819
Publisher: University of Texas Press Publication: November 6, 2013
Imprint: University of Texas Press Language: English
Author: Frank L. Kersnowski
ISBN: 9780292700819
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publication: November 6, 2013
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Language: English

Like many men of his generation, poet Robert Graves was indelibly marked by his experience of trench warfare in World War I. The horrific battles in which he fought and his guilt over surviving when so many perished left Graves shell-shocked and disoriented, desperately seeking a way to bridge the rupture between his conventional upbringing and the uncertainties of postwar British society. In this study of Graves's early poetry, Frank Kersnowski explores how his war neurosis opened a door into the unconscious for Graves and led him to reject the essential components of the Western idea of reality—reason and predictability. In particular, Kersnowski traces the emergence in Graves's early poems of a figure he later called "The White Goddess," a being at once terrifying and glorious, who sustains life and inspires poetry. Drawing on interviews with Graves's family, as well as unpublished correspondence and drafts of poems, Kersnowski argues that Graves actually experienced the White Goddess as a real being and that his life as a poet was driven by the purpose of celebrating and explaining this deity and her matriarchy.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Like many men of his generation, poet Robert Graves was indelibly marked by his experience of trench warfare in World War I. The horrific battles in which he fought and his guilt over surviving when so many perished left Graves shell-shocked and disoriented, desperately seeking a way to bridge the rupture between his conventional upbringing and the uncertainties of postwar British society. In this study of Graves's early poetry, Frank Kersnowski explores how his war neurosis opened a door into the unconscious for Graves and led him to reject the essential components of the Western idea of reality—reason and predictability. In particular, Kersnowski traces the emergence in Graves's early poems of a figure he later called "The White Goddess," a being at once terrifying and glorious, who sustains life and inspires poetry. Drawing on interviews with Graves's family, as well as unpublished correspondence and drafts of poems, Kersnowski argues that Graves actually experienced the White Goddess as a real being and that his life as a poet was driven by the purpose of celebrating and explaining this deity and her matriarchy.

More books from University of Texas Press

Cover of the book Beyond Spoon River by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book State of Minds by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book Art Systems by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book The Horses of the Sahara by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book Architecture and Its Sculpture in Viceregal Mexico by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book The Voice of the Masters by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book Intellectual Foundations of the Nicaraguan Revolution by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book Of Beasts and Beauty by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book The Birth of the Penitentiary in Latin America by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book The Viceregency of Antonio María Bucareli in New Spain, 1771–1779 by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book La Pinta by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book The Kin Who Count by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book Hispanic Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists in Texas by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book Three Friends by Frank L. Kersnowski
Cover of the book Plants and Animals in the Life of the Kuna by Frank L. Kersnowski
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy