Graves and the Goddess: Essays on Robert Graves's The White Goddess

Ian Firla, Grevel Lindop

Susquehanna University Press, 2003 - Literary Criticism - 202 pages

The White Goddess is the most remarkable work of an extraordinary writer. Presenting the personal mythology and poetic theories of Robert Graves, a major modern poet, it is essential reading for anyone concerned with poetry, myth, gender or religion, and has been a vital source of inspiration for poets and scholars ever since its appearance in 1948. The essays collected here survey the approaches currently undertaken toward analyzing and discussing The White Goddess as well as the opinions on the work of international scholars whose approaches include biography, cultural history, literary criticism, textual studies, and Celtic studies.

Contents

• An Introduction: 13
• Sources Contexts Meanings: 25
• The Battle for the Battle of the Trees: 40
• The Necessary Trance and Gravess LoveEthic: 52
• Early Signs of the Goddess: 67
• The Path to the White Goddess: 78
• God and the Goddess the Muse and the Muses: 88
• The Black Goddess: 99
• Prelude to Poetics: 114
• A Proselytizing Text: 125
• The White Goddess and Radical Traditions: 134
• How and Why Graves Proceeded in Poetry: 144
• Yeats Graves and Heaney: 152
• King Jesus The Nazarene Gospel Restored and Jesus in Rome: 166
• Robert Graves Cleans Up a Dreadful Mess: 183
• Notes on Contributors: 193
• Index: 197

Bibliographic information

• Title: Graves and the Goddess: Essays on Robert Graves's The White Goddess
• Editors: Ian Firla, Grevel Lindop
• Publisher: Susquehanna University Press, 2003
• ISBN: 1575910551, 9781575910550
• Length: 202 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Literary Criticism / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology; Literary Criticism / General; Literary Criticism / Poetry