Robinson Jeffers

Robinson Jeffers was a modernist American poet

Robinson Jeffers

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962) graduated from Occidental College at the age of eighteen. Subsequently, he studied literature at the University of Southern California; philosophy, Old English, Dante, and Spanish romantic poetry in Switzerland; medicine at USC; and forestry at the University of Washington. Much of his poetry focused on the central California coast. Jeffers passed away in 1962.

cover image of the book Cawdor And Medea

Cawdor And Medea

by Robinson Jeffers

With a contribution by Robinson Jeffers

Here for a new generation of readers and students are two major poetic works of Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962). The verse narrative Cawdor, set on the ruthless California coast which Jeffers knew so well, tells a simple tale: an aging widower, Cawdor, unwilling to relinquish his youth, knowingly marries a young girl who does not love him. She falls in love with his son, Hood, and the narrative unfolds in tragedy of immense proportions. Medea is a verse adaptation of Euripides’ drama and was created especially for the actress Judith Anderson. Their combined genius made the play one of the outstanding successes of the 1940’s. In Medea, Jeffers relentlessly drove toward what Ralph Waldo Emerson had called the proper tragic element-terror. Cawdor and Medea embody Jeffers’ most compelling themes and moods and convey his philosophy of “Inhumanism.”

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cover image of the book Cawdor And Medea

Cawdor And Medea

by Robinson Jeffers

With a contribution by Robinson Jeffers

Here for a new generation of readers and students are two major poetic works of Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962). The verse narrative Cawdor, set on the ruthless California coast which Jeffers knew so well, tells a simple tale: an aging widower, Cawdor, unwilling to relinquish his youth, knowingly marries a young girl who does not love him. She falls in love with his son, Hood, and the narrative unfolds in tragedy of immense proportions. Medea is a verse adaptation of Euripides’ drama and was created especially for the actress Judith Anderson. Their combined genius made the play one of the outstanding successes of the 1940’s. In Medea, Jeffers relentlessly drove toward what Ralph Waldo Emerson had called the proper tragic element-terror. Cawdor and Medea embody Jeffers’ most compelling themes and moods and convey his philosophy of “Inhumanism.”

More Information
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