Descent to the Dead by Robinson Jeffers
**Overview of "Descent to the Dead" by Robinson Jeffers**
"Descent to the Dead" is a significant sequence of short poems by Robinson Jeffers, inspired by his 1929 visit to Ireland and England, lands rich in his ancestral heritage. The work explores ancient monuments such as cairns, graves, and standing stones, serving as a medium through which Jeffers attempts to convey the human consciousness that contributed to their creation. Central to the poetry is the theme of humanity's ephemeral existence contrasted against the vastness of cosmic time, embodying Jeffers' philosophy of Inhumanism. He reflects on the beauty and irrelevance of past cultures, marking a rejection not only of contemporary American values but also of his ancestral European traditions. The poems delve into the graves of historical figures, illustrating the contrast between their once-great legacies and their current insignificance. Through these reflections, Jeffers emphasizes a poignant acceptance of humanity's small place in the universe, celebrating the profound beauty found within that realization. Ultimately, "Descent to the Dead" presents a meditative exploration of existence, memory, and the transient nature of human achievement.
On this Page
Descent to the Dead by Robinson Jeffers
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1931
Type of work: Poetry
The Work
Descent to the Dead, occasioned by a visit Jeffers and Una paid to Ireland, the land of their ancestors, and England in 1929, is the major sequence of short poems composed by the poet. Most of the works commemorate monuments of ancient cultures—cairns, cromlechs, graves, and standing stones—attempting to re-create the human consciousness that entered into their construction. Jeffers is most concerned with drawing connections between disparate moments of time, both to bridge the immense gulf between them and to mark humankind’s beautiful insignificance in the context of cosmic time. It is another means of disclosing Inhumanism.
Because Jeffers had chosen the Carmel coast—the final West—as his inevitable place and had accepted as his vocation the revelation of humanity’s triviality in that context, he had symbolically turned his back on the culture of his own country—thus his need to forge new poetic forms. By that same measure, he had rejected even more the culture of the Old World. This is the “dead” to which he descends, dead in two ways: It represents a rejected or transcended culture, and it is the culture of his ancestors, dead in a real sense. His object is both to reveal its irrelevance and to record its paradoxical beauty.
The poems focus on monuments of internment—“Shane O’Neill’s Cairn,” “Ossian’s Grave,” “In the Hill at Newgrange,” “Iona: The Graves of the Kings,” “Shakespeare’s Grave”—and of religious ritual—“The Broadstone,” “The Giant’s Ring”— because these are what the days and works of the dead have come to. The contrast between lofty aspirations and the cold reality of those graves (literally memorials to nothing, for nothing is left in them) is telling. Jeffers sees the end of humanity in this, and he accepts it; it is enough, for there is a great beauty and fitness in these places.
The primitive character of the places reinforces the theme; it brings to mind the brutishness of the lives so crudely remembered. Shane O’Neill was a name of power four centuries ago, controlling life and death for many; now he has shrunk to an empty grave surmounted by senseless blocks, and he is considered a petty king of an insignificant and primitive people. Moreover, this condition afflicts even the truly notable: lip service is paid to Homer and William Shakespeare, but twenty-six hundred years after his death only a few can read what the former composed, and the same will become true of the latter.
Jeffers believed that only from such a perspective could one accurately assess the role of humankind. For although humans may be insignificant and their self-importance a bloated lie, seen against the background of cosmic immensity their few moments of insight and self-realization can also appear heartbreakingly beautiful.
Bibliography
Brophy, Robert J. Robinson Jeffers: Myth, Ritual, and Symbol in His Narrative Poems. Reprint. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1976.
Brophy, Robert J., ed. The Robinson Jeffers Newsletter: A Jubilee Gathering, 1962-1988. Los Angeles: Occidental College, 1988.
Everson, William. The Excesses of God: Robinson Jeffers as a Religious Figure. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1988.
Karman, James. Robinson Jeffers: Poet of California. Brownsville, Oreg.: Story Line Press, 1995.
Nolte, William H. Rock and Hawk: Robinson Jeffers and the Romantic Agony. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1978.
Thesing, William B. Robinson Jeffers and a Galaxy of Writers. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995.
Vardamis, Alex A. The Critical Reputation of Robinson Jeffers: A Bibliographical Study. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1972.
Zaller, Robert. The Cliffs of Solitude: A Reading of Robinson Jeffers. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983.