Abstract
Robert Graves’s work is examined in ways that contest his own theoretical view of poetic composition as inevitably engaged with the feminine influence of the ‘white goddess’. Several key poems are read closely to indicate how poems of human relationship, war, class interest and love in fact fly the nets of the theory to become permanently significant, not limited to outmoded social and sexual attitudes. Graves’s metric is also given close attention. The influence of his work on other poets, notably Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney, is demonstrated. It’s difficult to characterise adequately the tenor of Graves’s modernity, but this chapter attempts to do so. Connections between the poems and certain works of art are also proposed. Poems given detailed attention include ‘Love Without Hope’ and ‘The Straw’.
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