Spirit of America Bookstore
California poet
Robinson Jeffers
[1887-1962]
![California poet Robinson Jeffers [1887-1962] wearing white shirt at Tor House in Carmel, California](images/RobinsonJeffers-whiteshirt.jpg "California poet Robinson Jeffers [1887-1962] wearing white shirt at Tor House in Carmel, California") | short profile |
"The greatest beauty is organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things,
the divine beauty of the universe."
"I learned that ruling poor men's hands is nothing. Ruling men's money [is] a wedge in the world.
But after I'd split it open a crack I looked in and saw the trick inside it, the filthy nothing,
the fooled and rotten faces of rich and successful men."
B I O
t e x t
h e r e
California’s 'premier bard'
Robinson Jeffers entry at Wikipedia
browse books in Robinson Jeffers Store at Amazon
Tor House Foundation [est. 1978]
Robinson Jeffers Assn. [est. 1993] based at Vancouver, Washington State
Primary Works
browse books by Robinson Jeffers at Amazon
 | "The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers" [1938]
Quinn Press pb [3/2007] for $35.45 Quinn Press hardcover [11/2008] for $48.45 Random House hardcover [11/38] out of print/many used |
 | "Robinson Jeffers: Selected Poems" [1965] The poems in this volume were selected {editor unknown} from his major works: "Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems" [1924], "Be Angry At The Sun" [1941], "The Double Axe" [1948], "Hungerfield" [1954], as well as "The Beginning and The End" [1963], which contains his last poems. Vintage pb [8/65] for $8.76 Carcanet Press Centenary Edition pb [12/87] out of print/used |
 | "The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers: Volumes I-V" [1988-2001] Edited by Tim Hunt Stanford Univ Press 9¾x9 hardcover box set [11/2002] orig $300.00, out of print/used |
 | "The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers" [2002] Edited by Tim Hunt Stanford Univ Press pb [4/2002] for $29.25 hardcover [8/00] for $0.00 Stanford Univ Press hardcover [4/2002] out of print/used |
"Flagons and Apples" [Grafton, 1912]
"Californians" [Macmillan, 1916]
"Tamar and Other Poems" [self-publd, 1924]
"Roan Stallion, Tamar, and Other Poems" [Boni & Liveright, 1925]
"The Women At Point Sur" [Liveright, 1927]
"The Women At Point Sur" reissue [Blue Oak, 1975] with afterword by Bill Hotchkiss
reissued by Norton-Liveright in 1977
"Cawdor and Other Poems" [Liveright, 1928]
"Dear Judas and Other Poems" [Liveright, 1929]
reissued by Norton-Liveright in 1977
"Descent To The Dead: Poems Written In Ireland & Great Britain" [Random House, 1931]
later included in "Give Your Heart To The Hawks" [1933] and "Selected Poetry" [1938]
"Thurso's Landing and Other Poems" [Liveright, 1932]
"Give Your Heart To The Hawks and Other Poems" [Random House, 1933]
"Solstice and Other Poems" [Random House, 1935]
"Roan Stallion, Tamar, and Other Poems" reissue [Random House, 1925]
additional poems and a new Introduction by Jeffers
"Such Counsels You Gave To Me and Other Poems" [Random House, 1937]
"Be Angry At The Sun" [Random House, 1941]
"The Double Axe and Other Poems" [Random House, 1948]
reissued by Norton-Liveright in 1977 with the eleven 'suppressed poems'
"Hungerfield and Other Poems" [Random House, 1954]
"The Beginning and The End and Other Poems" [Random House, 1963]
"In This Wild Water: Suppressed Poems" [Ward Ritchie Press, 1976]
Ed. James Shebl, Preface by Robert Brophy
poems 'suppressed' by the editors at Random House from the "Double Axe" mss, with correspondence from them
http://www.amazon.com/This-Wild-Water-Suppressed-Robinson/dp/0378076949/
"What Odd Expedients and Other Poems" [Shoestring, 1981] Ed. Robert Ian Scott
25 mostly unpublished poems written about World War II
 | "Rock and Hawk: A Selection of Shorter Poems by Robinson Jeffers" [1987] Edited by Robert Hass Random House hardcover [9/87] out of print/used |
"Songs and Heroes" [Arundel Press, 1988] Ed. Robert Brophy
33 early unpublished poems, written circa 1912
"Stones of The Sur" [Stanford Univ Press, 2001]
http://www.amazon.com/Stones-Sur-Robinson-Jeffers-Photographs/dp/0804739420/
http://www.amazon.com/Cawdor-Medea-After-Euripides-Directions/dp/0811200736/
 | "The Wild God of The World: An Anthology of Robinson Jeffers" [2003] Edited with an Introduction by Albert Gelpi includes the long poem "Cawdor" [1928] and selected shorter poems Stanford Univ Press pb [1/2003] for $20.95 Stanford Univ Press hardcover [1/2003] for $52.00 |
Other Works
"Poetry, Gongorism and A Thousand Years" [1949] by Robinson Jeffers
Ward Ritchie Press hardcover [1949] out of print/used
"Visits To Ireland" [Ward Ritchie Press, 1954]
excerpts from Una Jeffers’s diaries, edited by Jeffers and containing entries by him
"Themes In My Poems" [Book Club of California, 1956]
principal text & readings of Jeffers’s 1941 lecture at the Library of Congress
"Not Man Apart: Lines From Robinson Jeffers" [Sierra Club, 1965] Ed. David Brower
photographs of the Big Sur coast by famous photographers of the region alongside poems by Jeffers
"The Selected Letters of Robinson Jeffers" [Johns Hopkins, 1968] Ed. Ann Ridgeway
Revealing correspondence, illustrated by striking Leigh Wiener photographs
"Jeffers Country: The Seed Plots of Robinson Jeffers’ Poetry" [Scrimshaw Press, 1971]
Poetry of Jeffers alongside photographs by Horace Lyon; original prefaces by Robinson and Una Jeffers
"The Alpine Christ and Other Poems" [Cayucos Books, 1974] Edited by William Everson
"Brides of The South Wind: Poems 1917-1922" [Cayucos Books, 1974] Edited by William Everson
"Where Shall I Take You To: The Love Letters of Una And Robinson Jeffers" [Yolla Bolly Press, 1987]
57 letters 1910-1913 Ed. Robert Kafka, Foreword by Garth Jeffers
 | "The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers, with Selected Letters of Una Jeffers" [2009-2012] Edited by James Karman
Volume One, 1890-1930 Stanford Univ Press 9½x7½ hardcover [8/2009] for $95.00 Volume Two, 1931-1939 Stanford Univ Press 9½x7 hardcover [10/2011] for $90.25 Volume Three, 1940-? - publication date unknown |
Movies, Stageplays, Other Media
Robinson Jeffers credits [1947-82] at Internet Broadway Database
"Dear Judas" stageplay [short Broadway run 1947]
Produced, written & directed by Michael Myerberg 'from the work by Robinson Jeffers'
"Medea" stageplay as adapted by Robinson Jeffers [Oct 1947-May 1948]
'Triumphant' production directed by John Gielgud; starring Judith Anderson {won Tony Award},
John Gielgud & Florence Reed • credits at IBDb
"The Tower Beyond Tragedy" stageplay [Nov-Dec 1950]
Written by Robinson Jeffers, based on his 1950 poem; staged by Robert Ross; starring
Judith Anderson as Clytemnestra
• credits at IBDb
actress Judith Anderson recorded a selection of Jeffers’s work in 1970 for Caedmon Records {TC 1297}
"Medea" stageplay as adapted by Robinson Jeffers [May-June 1982 revival]
'Stunning' production moved from Kennedy Center; directed by Robert Whitehead, with Zoe Caldwell as Medea
& Judith Anderson as the nurse, Mitchell Ryan as Jason; Tony Award® for Best Actress to Zoe Caldwell,
5 other Tony nominations; Caldwell also won Drama Desk Award • credits at IBDb
 | "Medea" TV movie [P.B.S./WQED-TV 1983] 87-minute performance with rapturous reviews on Amazon; filmed in 1982 at the Kennedy Center Directed by Mark Cullingham; starring Zoe Caldwell, Judith Anderson {Emmy nomination} & Mitch Ryan F.F.H. color VHS [1983] out of prodn/scarce F.F.H. color DVD via high-priced educational license full credits at IMDb |
 | "Medea: Freely Adapted From The Medea of Euripides" [1945] by Robinson Jeffers Samuel French & Co. pb [1976] out of print/many used Samuel French & Co. pb [1948] out of print/used Random House hardcover [1946] out of print/used |
 | "Robinson Jeffers: Cawdor & Medea by Euripides" [1970] with Introduction and notes by William Everson Jeffers's long poem "Cawdor" [1928] and his 1946 translation of "Medea" [431 B.C.E.] by Euripides [480-406 B.C.E.] New Directions pb [1/70] for $11.01 |
 | The Beach Boys album "Holland" [1973]
Sony music CD [10/90] 15 tracks - out of prodn/used EMI Japan imported music CD [6/2008] 15 tracks for $37.88 includes a song [3:49] based on Jeffers's poem "The Beaks of Eagles" album entry at Wikipedia Spirit of America Bookstore's 'The Beach Boys' Page |
 | "Poetry Speaks Expanded: Hear Poets Read Their Own Work - From Tennyson To Plath" [2007] Edited by Elise Paschen & Rebekah Presson Mosby
Sourcebooks/MediaFusion hardcover & audio CD [10/2007] for $32.97 Book includes 244 poems, with 107 poems 'read by the poets themselves' on three disks; Robinson Jeffers reads "The Day Is A Poem (September 19, 1939)" and "Oh, Lovely Rock"; other American & European poets include W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Bogan, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Browning, E.E. Cummings, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Graves, Robert Hayden, Langston Hughes, Ted Hughes, Laura (Riding) Jackson, Randall Jarrell, James Joyce, Jack Kerouac, Philip Larkin, Robert Lowell, Ogden Nash, Sylvia Plath, Ezra Pound, Theodore Roethke, Muriel Rukeyser, Carl Sandburg, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, Melvin B. Tolson, Walt Whitman?, William Carlos Williams, William Butler Yeats, many others |
 | "Enskyment: The Poetry of Robinson Jeffers" [2010] by Colin Farish CDBY music CD [8/2010] 12 tracks for $19.03 Jeffers's poetry spoken and sung by Colin Farish, backed by acoustic instruments |
Works About Robinson Jeffers
 | "Shine, Perishing Republic: Robinson Jeffers and The Tragic Sense In Modern Poetry" [1936] by Rudolph Gilbert Haskell House hardcover [1965] out of print/used |
 | "The Poet Is Dead: A Memorial For Robinson Jeffers" [Auerhahn Press 1964] by William Everson (aka Brother Antoninus) Good Book Press hardcover [1987] out of print/scarce |
 | "Robinson Jeffers: Fragments of An Older Fury" [1968] by Brother Antoninus (aka William Everson) Oyez hardcover [1968] out of print/used |
 | "Robinson Jeffers: Myth, Ritual, and Symbol In His Narrative Poems" [1973] by Robert J. Brophy
Gazelle / Archon hardcover [12/76] out of print/used Case Western Reserve Univ Press hardcover [1973] out of print/used Brophy is professor emeritus at Cal State Long Beach |
 | "Robinson Jeffers (Western Writers Series)" [1975] by Robert J. Brophy Boise State Univ pb [6/75] out of print/used |
 | "Jeffers: The Sivaistic Vision" [1975] by Bill Hotchkiss Blue Oak Press hardcover [1975] out of print/scarce |
 | "Una and Robin" [1976] by Mabel Dodge Luhan
Written in 1933, not published until 1976; memoirs of Mabel Dodge Lujan [1879-1962] of Taos, New Mexico regarding her friendship with Una and Robinson Jeffers, and with D.H. Lawrence [1885-1930] Friends of The Bancroft Library pb [1976] out of print/used Friends of The Bancroft Library pb [1976] out of print/used see also Mabel Dodge Luhan entry at Wikipedia |
 | "The Cliffs of Solitude: A Reading of Robinson Jeffers" [1983] by Robert Zaller Much of Jeffers's work precededing 'Tamar' was presumed to be lost; the recent {circa 1980} recovery of major portions of Jeffers' verse drama 'The Alpine Christ' as well as a significant quantity of other early material asked for a comprehensive assessment of his career. Cambridge Univ Press hardcover [11/83] out of print/used |
 | "Robinson Jeffers: Poet of California" [orig 1987, rev 1994] by James Karman Story Line Press pb [10/94] out of print/used Chronicle Books pb [4/87] out of print/used |
 | "Critical Essays On Robinson Jeffers" [1990] Edited by James Karman Thorndike Press hardcover [10/90] out of print/used |
 | "Robinson Jeffers and A Galaxy of Writers: Essays In Honor of William H. Nolte" [1995] Edited by WIlliam B. Thesing contains 13 essays by others on Jeffers's work, with comparisons to other American & British poets; Nolte was a fan & scholar of Jeffers & H.L. Mencken, and famously wrote the essay "Robinson Jeffers Redivivus" in Georgia Review, Summer 1978 Univ SC Press hardcover [5/95] for $39.95 |
 | ". . . A Thousand Graceful Subtleties: Rhetoric In The Poetry of Robinson Jeffers" [1995] by Terry Beers Peter Lang Publng hardcover [3/95] for $37.95 |
 | "Robinson Jeffers: The Dimensions of A Poet" [1995] Edited by Robert J. Brophy Fordham Univ Press pb [1995] for $25.00 Fordham Univ Press hardcover [1995] for $55.00 Brophy is professor emeritus at Cal State Long Beach |
 | "Of Una Jeffers: A Discovered Memoir" [written 1939, publd 1998] by Edith Greenan Story Line Press pb [10/98] out of print/used |
review by David Rains Wallace of the Stanford 4-volume "Collected Poetry" set
{Los Angeles Times Book Review cover story, 29 Oct 2000)
Family & Friends
wife Una Call Kuster Jeffers [1884?-1950]
affair 1910?, married 1913, died 1950
twin sons born 1916
friend photographer Ansel Adams [1902-84]
friend photographer Morley Baer [1916-95]
friend author Benjamin De Casseres [1873-1945]
friends Edward & Edith Kuster (Una's first husband, Edward's second wife}
friend author D.H. Lawrence [1885-1930]
friend Mabel Ganson Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan [1879-1962] of Taos, New Mexico
friend poet Edgar Lee Masters [1868-1950]
friend & mentor poet George Sterling [1869-1926]
friend photographer Edward Weston [1886-1958]
Links
Robinson Jeffers entry at Wikipedia
browse books in Robinson Jeffers Store at Amazon
Tor House Foundation [est. 1978]
Robinson Jeffers Assn. [est. 1993] based at Vancouver in Washington State
photo posters of Robinson Jeffers and family at AllPosters.com
Robinson Jeffers pages at University of Illinois/UC
Poets.org's Robinson Jeffers page
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/jeffers/life.htm
Beginning with the help of two of its greatest benefactors, Una Jeffers and Albert Bender, Occidental College has been collecting, since 1937,
the works of Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962), the Carmel, California poet and graduate of Occidental College.
Robinson Jeffers alumnus pages at Occidental College, Los Angeles, California
here on the California poet Robinson Jeffers [1887-1962] Page at Spirit of America Bookstore
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