The Robinson Jeffers Association (RJA) is a not-for-profit organization whose members read, discuss, study and teach the work of one of America’s greatest poets, Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962). The Association publishes a journal, Jeffers Studies, holds an annual conference and offers a wide range of resources for scholars, critics, teachers, students and general readers. Please join us – all are welcome.
News
Scott Slovic and George Hart to Deliver Keynote Addresses
May 5, 2012
RJA Conference Deadline Extended
April 3, 2012
The 2012 RJA conference is shaping up nicely, and presenters will cover a wide array of topics concerning Jeffers’ importance. Because many proposals were received in the past week, the deadline has been extended to 15 April in case anyone… Read More >>
Stanford offers preview of Robert Zaller’s Robinson Jeffers and the American Sublime
February 12, 2012
To preview the opening chapter of Robert Zaller’s new critical study, Robinson Jeffers and the American Sublime, go to the Stanford University Press website. Dr. Zaller will be presenting a paper at the 2012 RJA Conference in May.
Be Angry at the Sun
That public men publish falsehoods
Is nothing new. That America must accept
Like the historical republics corruption and empire
Has been known for years.
Be angry at the sun for setting
If these things anger you. Watch the wheel slope
and turn,
They are all bound on the wheel, these people,
those warriors,
This republic, Europe, Asia.
Observe them gesticulating,
Observe them going down. The gang serves lies,
the passionate
Man plays his part; the cold passion for truth
Hunts in no pack.
You are not Catullus, you know,
To lampoon these crude sketches of Caesar. You are far
From Dante’s feet, but even farther from his dirty
Political hatreds.
Let boys want pleasure, and men
Struggle for power, and women perhaps for fame,
And the servile to serve a Leader and the dupes
to be duped.
Yours is not theirs.