Vulture

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Robinson Jeffers was an artist when it came to writing poems. With a pen in his hands, he was able to capture the minds of his readers and draw them in as they read his stories. “Vulture” echos Jeffers past and resembles the characteristics of Modernism. He shows anti-religion, logic, and individualism throughout the poem, framing the poem to its time period. Being in the same era as Hart Crane, the two authors had some techniques in common as well. The “Vulture” is a unique poem with powerful words to depict its meanings. In analyzing the poem “Vulture” by Robinson Jeffers, it is important to understand Robinson Jeffers’s viewpoint. Jeffers’ viewpoint was based on two primary factors, his view toward philosophy and religion and his study of history. Jeffers viewpoint on philosophy and religion was “grounded in his respect for scientific thought and in his own historical observation, but strongly colored in its expression by emotion” (Magill). His writing is described as “distinctively Calvinist and scientific revisioning of Romanticism expressed itself religiously in his pantheistic conviction about the divinity of nature,” and “Jeffers’s pantheism and Inhumanism attain an elevated, even serene clarity of perception and articulation in the face of death” (Gelpi). Pantheism is “the doctrine that God is not a personality, but that all laws, forces, manifestations, etc. of the universe are God; the belief that God and the universe are one and the same” (“Pantheistic”). Jeffers’s religious views are not Christian as one critic describes as “…opposed all the doctrines and creeds of supernatural religion. In revolt against the traditional Christianity of his father’s church, denied the divinity of Jesus and the doctrine of the virgin birth” (Carpenter). Jeffers gave the name “Inhumanism” to describe his expression of his basic values (Gelpi). One description of Inhumanism is “a complex philosophy, involving both the poetics of tragedy and the religious experience of mysticism” (Carpenter). The second factor was his study of history, which is described “by his observations of the inevitable cycles of growth, flowering and decay in nature” (Magill). “Vulture” reveals Robinson Jeffers’s views on religion and history in each line of the poem. “Vulture” is about a person who has laid down to rest on a hillside by the ocean and sees a vulture circling above him. The vulture circles above the person, as if waiting for him to die. The first line of the poem can be viewed to symbolize a person’s life from beginning to end, as described in a day. For example, the day begins at dawn and ends when you lay down to rest as described “…though the implication of the movement from “dawn” to “lay down to rest” in the first line soon takes on ominous confirmation, “I lay death-still” (Gelpi). Jeffers’s view of the sky as “heaven” is consistent with his view on religion, that heaven is just part of nature, defined by one critic as “Nature (capitalized) is the cosmic order within which natural things interact…All these historic aspects of naturalism have contributed to Jeffers’ philosophy…” (Carpenter). The person understands why the vulture is waiting, but the vulture needs to wait a while longer. This can be seen in the verb tense used in the poem, ““to be eaten… and become,” or ”to share” (Robinson). What the poet tells us solemnly is the fact that, sorry though he may be, he has to defer the vulture’s meal for a while (Gelpi). However, Jeffers believes that it would be a good thing to be eaten by the vulture when he describes the bird as “dear” and “beautiful” and that he is “sorry to have disappointed him” (Robinson). This would be consistent with “the pantheist’s creed: that we should live so attuned to the single rhythm of life and death that, like the autumn leaf relinquishing its hold on the branch, we are ready to sink to the compost of earth…” (Gelpi). Jeffers’s religious view is also seen in the manner that the person in the poem will die. The person is eaten by the bird and becomes part of him, sharing the wings and eyes as part of his life after death. This is the opposite of Christianity. In the poem, the vulture is nourished by eating the person, which is like “the pantheist’s communion” (Gelpi). In Christianity, we take communion by “eating God as spiritual nourishment” (Gelpi). Finally, the poem also reflects Jeffers’s view on life through the use of first person to narrate the poem. The poem has “eight occurrences of “I” foreground the activity of consciousness and locate every sentence there except the final exclamations” (Gelpi). This helps reflect Jeffers characteristics of Modernism. One critic states that Modernism is “…experimentation, anti-realism, individualism and a stress on the cerebral rather than emotive aspects” (“Modernism”). When using “I”, one expresses the use of individualism and the fact that one needs to rely on oneself. Jeffers says in his poem, “To be eaten by that beak and become part of him, to share those wings and those eyes-What a sublime end of one’s body…” (Robinson). There is no heaven, but instead, the character becomes in a sense, “one with nature”. Thus, he created Inhumanism. With this perspective, Jeffers is very similar to Hart Crane’s poem, Chaplinesque. Crane mirrored the values of anti-religion, individualism, and logic over emotion. He expressed his views through a clown, in place of strictly sharing his emotions. He differentiates between the self and the word. “This play between the world and self, between the world’s initiative and the self’s reactive powers is the essence of the poem” (Hutson). Jeffers does an identical thing by denying going to heaven, and in its place saying that the character becomes part of the vulture. Robinson Jeffers’ life greatly influenced his writing and its effects can be seen in Vulture. It is said by P egasos Literature that as a child, Jeffers “…to fly with homemade wings and many of his poems describe birds or refer to the myth of Icarus - his favorite animal and symbol was the hawk” (“The Biography”). This clearly relates back to the theme of this poem by it being about a bird. It also connects a common theme with his poems, which are birds and myths. Poems like “Birds” and “Hurt Hawks” are greatly influenced by Jeffers’ love for birds. When looking at the poem “Cawdor”, Jeffers references back to the “circle of life”. One states, “…the poet’s sense of historical cycles of human behavior and the larger cycle of death and rebirth that Jeffers called, in ‘Cawdor,’ the ‘great Life’” (Magill). Also in “Cawdor” is the reference to death by way of a bird. “…Jeffers could not but have had particularly in mind the eagle’s death-flight to the sun that he had imagined at the climax of ‘Cawdor’…” (Gelpi). Overall, Robinson Jeffers writes a graphic poem that reaches the reader’s core. He was immensely impacted by his past and symbolized Modernism in his writing. He used individualism and anti-religion to communicate his views, as a replacement for emotions, all of which are characteristics of Modernism. He also compares to “Chaplinesque” by Hart Crane with the same reasons that they both refer back to Modernism. With potent word phrases and ideas, “Vulture” is a one of a kind poem.

Magill, Frank N. "Robinson Jeffers." //Critical Survey of Poetry.// Vol. 4. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem, 1992. 1487-497. Print.

Gelpi, Albert. "What An Enskyment/What An Enwordment." //Jeffers Studies//. 2003. Web. 04 May 2010. .

"Pantheistic - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." //Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online//. Web. 04 May 2010. .

Carpenter, Frederic Ives. "Philosophy and Religion." //Robinson Jeffers.// New York: Twayne, 1962. 109-21. Print. "Modernism in Literature: Modernist Poetry." //Modern Poetry: Its Writing and Appreciation//. Web. 04 May 2010. .

"The Biography of Robinson Jeffers - Life Story." //PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine//. Web. 04 May 2010. .

Hutson, Richard. "Exile Guise: Irony and Hart Crane." //A Collection of Critical Essays//. Englewood Cliff: Prentice-Hall Inc, 1982. 143-146. Print.

"Robinson Jeffers | "Vulture" | Poetry Archive | Plagiarist.com." //Poetry Analysis, Poems, Articles, and Reviews | Plagiarist.com//. 2 Mar. 2002. Web. 05 May 2010. [].

hannah's comments= good opening. you said something about "powerful words" might help reader understand more if you gave some examples of those words, however i don't think it's a make or break situation. well written conclusion!