The White Goddess : A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth

Rating:
Summary: This is clearly required reading for modern poets & pagans.
Review: Robert Graves never truly expected "White Goddess" to become the classic it has. However, along with "I, Claudius" & "Goodbye To All That" it may well be the only book the general public remembers him for. It is certainly unique in the field of poetry &caused much controversy that still rages on today in poetic, historic & religious circles. Graves called it "a historical grammar of poetic myth" & while that may sound a littlevague there may be no better way to define it. "White Goddess" is based on the theory thattrue poetry isn't the free & interpretive verse that most people believe, but is insteadspiritual in function & governed by ancient pagan religious ideas. It seeks to express, in alanguage of traditional mythic symbols, the five-fold stages of a never ending life & deathcycle. Graves attempts to trace the origins of this mythic language back to ancient Europe& suggests that it may have even originated before the building of stonehenge. In theprocess of researching this mythic language he explains history in mythic terms & myth inhistorical terms, throwing new light on both by use of his "analeptic" method, which heargues is a valid form of research. Graves argues that true poetry, by it's very nature, is pagan & that the druids wereit's undisputed masters. With the coming of Greek philosophers & later Christianmissionaries, the true function of poetry & myth were lost. He uses countless referencesto support his claims & the reader should be familiar with Greek & Celtic history &mythology to get the most from this book. A familiarity with Frazer's "Golden Bough" isalso recommended. Some of his history is flawed & his ideas of an early universal calendar-alphabet ishighly suspect. However, he still succeeded in his goal. He created, or recreated, a valid& functional mythology for modern poets to apply to their work. In doing so heunknowingly also set the standard for the modern neo-pagan movement. The book hasbecome accepted as one of the founding texts in the pagan community for it's insight intothe meaning & function of mythology. Not to mention it's call for a more liberal & lessdogmatic belief system.

Rating:
Summary: This is clearly required reading for modern poets & pagans.
Review: Robert Graves never truly expected "White Goddess" to become the classic it has. However, along with "I, Claudius" & "Goodbye To All That" it may well be the only book the general public remembers him for. It is certainly unique in the field of poetry & caused much controversy that still rages on today in poetic, historic & religious circles. Graves called it "a historical grammar of poetic myth" & while that may sound a little vague there may be no better way to define it. "White Goddess" is based on the theory that true poetry isn't the free & interpretive verse that most people believe, but is instead spiritual in function & governed by ancient pagan religious ideas. It seeks to express, in a language of traditional mythic symbols, the five-fold stages of a never ending life & death cycle. Graves attempts to trace the origins of this mythic language back to ancient Europe & suggests that it may have even originated before the building of stonehenge. In the process of researching this mythic language he explains history in mythic terms & myth in historical terms, throwing new light on both by use of his "analeptic" method, which he argues is a valid form of research. Graves argues that true poetry, by it's very nature, is pagan & that the druids were it's undisputed masters. With the coming of Greek philosophers & later Christian missionaries, the true function of poetry & myth were lost. He uses countless references to support his claims & the reader should be familiar with Greek & Celtic history & mythology to get the most from this book. A familiarity with Frazer's "Golden Bough" is also recommended. Some of his history is flawed & his ideas of an early universal calendar-alphabet is highly suspect. However, he still succeeded in his goal. He created, or recreated, a valid & functional mythology for modern poets to apply to their work. In doing so he unknowingly also set the standard for the modern neo-pagan movement. The book has become accepted as one of the founding texts in the pagan community for it's insight into the meaning & function of mythology. Not to mention it's call for a more liberal & less dogmatic belief system.

Rating:
Summary: Graves' Best! A Classic
Review: Seeing this reprint in H/b - was a great pleasure. Grevel Lindop has done us all a favour - getting this organised. Always a controversial book, it's a great read - the sort of thing you can open and dip into for years - and still find something fresh iand stimulating. Even if deemed tendentious, at times, it is always a catalyst. Graves' poured great imagination and encyclopaediac stretches of information into this book - essentially his definition of what truly makes a poet - a poet, being a moon struck follower of the white goddess. While I personally subscribe to the view that there may be several different poetic functions - there is something compelling about Graves' basic argument - that poetry is a kind of service to the Goddess, that poetry is something 'magical' - poesis a kind of loss of self, even a kind of 'crucifixion' on the cross of time and space, altho' Graves' would probably have deemed that too Christian sounding. Still, he does suggest that an engagement with poetry - with the Goddess, involves a kind of 'dismemberment' - much like Nietzsche's feeling for the 'Dionsyian' experience - and, like Nietzsche, rather scornful of what 'Apollonians' get up to - in the name of poetry (or anything else). Graves elaborates this theme - with a kind of 'stream of consciousness' detour through several different cultural milieus - chiefly, focusing on the 'Celtic' tradition - and its Graeco-Roman equivalents, always returning to his starting point - the motif of the mother-son/lover-goddess object relationship. In the concluding chapters of the book, Graves concedes that this may become a kind of diffused presence, the 'great mother' in the cosmic sense, thus manifest in the entire creation. Graves' work had its problems, not least the notion that he could present his magnum opus - really a 'visionary' work - as a piece of serious scholarship. As such, the W.G. did not receive recognition from the scholarly fraternity. However, it did strike a chord with the artistic community, the avant garde, virtually achieving 'cult status' for a while - in the 60's. My only complaint about the new preface or introduction - by Grevel Lindop, is a certain ambivalence about who Graves' main audience was - when it mattered most? Graves' 'hippy' readership attracted rather pejorative comments in this respect, as if to suggest that Graves found his niche with the 'orthodox' - which was certainly not the case. Indeed, the same editorial comments go on to link Graves' name (and the W.G.) with 'magic mushrooms,' Hoffmann's discovery of LSD - and the counter-culture which gave the W.G. its greatest audience. That Graves eventually took the Chair in Poetry - at Oxford, was a rather belated tribute. As an editorial consideration, it would have been nice to see a little more attention devoted to the fact that Graves' later association with Idries Shah and the Eastern tradition led to a complete volte -face on Graves' part, vis-a-vis the negative comments accorded to it in the W.G. Still, these are niggles. It's great to see a new H/c edition of the W.G. Given the price, it would have been nice to see proper 'boards and bands' holding the book together. The type of binding used is a cheaper, less substantial h/c format. I say this, because many people keep reading the W.G. - for years, and it deserved decent bindings.A glorious, inspiring chaos!

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for research, 2 for deliver
Review: The author, Robert Graves, makes the case that poetry, true poetry, is inspired by a pagan goddess that permeates all mythologies and religions.

He makes a solid case for this argument. He is thoroughly versed in nearly every major (as well as obscure) mythology. His research is commendable.

However, I found the book extremely hard to follow. The author assumes the reader has profound understanding of mythology and culture. He also digresses often and makes his points confusing.

This work reminds me of the book "Hamlet's Mill" by De Santilla and Von Dechend. Like "Hamlet's Mill", "The White Goddess" is a scholarly, well researched book on the power of mythology that has the unfortunate habit of confusing its readers.

Rating:
Summary: not the most scholarly
Review: This book has a lot of insight into Poetry, especially when it comes to Pagan themes. But the book should be taken from an "inspired" point of view rather than as a scholarly work. Especially since many of the themes that Graves explains are those he has developed on his own. But interesting on the whole and useful.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Wonderful
Review: This is by far one of the best books I have read. It covers alot about mythology and the poetry they used. Which I might add was very beautiful poetry. There is no fluff here just a beautiful work on mythology and poetry.

Rating:
Summary: A historical grammar of Poetic Myth!
Review: Though the popularity of Robert Graves arises from fundamentally prodigious narrative dyptich by I Claudius and Claudius the God and his wife , the different works of historical research and his passionate and always interesting essays occupy a primordial place in the set of his work.
The White goddess is a historical grammar of the poetic myth that rebuilds the magic language of the ancient Mediterranean and northern Europe entailed to religious ceremonies in honor of the Moon Goddess . The coming invaders of the Central Asia remodeled or faked that old myths coming from the Paleolithic Age meanwhile the first Greek philosophers replaced the ancient legacy for the rational poetic language in honor to Apollo. This poetic language was seriously depraved just to the end of the Minoic period replacing the matriarchate society for the patriarchal and what it deeply revealing is the falsification of the myths was done to justify the social changes .
Graves is demolisher among other concluding statements when he says : Nevertheless , the language of the true poetry will always be engaged to the ancient myths ..
This book is extremely important for you to know and connect the essential and several historical twigs such the King Arthur and understand why the Troy decay signified the abolition of a way of living before than the Fall of an Empire .


Rating:
Summary: The Crossword Goddess
Review: You probably know the "White Goddess" thesis already--that patriarchal invaders suppressed the mother-goddess religions of the Aegean and Ancient Near East, traces of which managed to survive in Europe, especially in the minstrel lore of Ireland and Wales. The real fun of the book for me though was in the getting there--a waterslide ride of vast learning, crossword logic and speculative buccaneering that takes you from A to some weird and half-forgotten form of Z in three chapters flat.

The book reads more like a postmodern novel than scholarship. The encyclopaedic frames of reference, baroque plotting and seemingly random coincidences that suddenly wink into information may remind you more than a little of Eco or Pynchon. This is the grandmammy of all conspiracy theories, revealing as much about our own peculiar forms of faith as Bronze Age Europe's. You'll enjoy Graves's dazzling hunt for the Goddess whether you find her or not.