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Quiz about The Life and Lines of Robinson Jeffers

The Life and Lines of Robinson Jeffers Quiz

This quiz connects great lines from Jeffers' poetry with his life. This time, the emphasis is more on the biography than the poetry.

A multiple-choice quiz by NormanW5. Estimated time: 7 mins.

Author
NormanW5

Time
7 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
222,519

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
129

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Robinson Jeffers was raised by a father who demanded academic excellence at an early age. William Hamilton Jeffers was a professional theologian, an editor of a scholarly journal, and a scholar of eight ancient languages who spoke three modern ones. He wanted his son to thoroughly understand his Judeo-Christian religious heritage and his Greco-Roman culture. As a result, by the age of twelve, Jeffers was in control of which languages? Hint

English, French, German, Greek, and Latin

English, Greek, and Hebrew

English and Latin

English, French, German, and Spanish

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Question 2 of 10

2. Jeffers met Una Call Kuster in 1906 at the University of Southern California. They fell in love, but unfortunately Una was already married. The Kusters eventually divorced, and Robinson married Una on August 2, 1913. They ended up having one of the great marriages in literary history, but it took seven tumultuous years before they could marry. Which is the only one of the following events that was NOT one of the events of the years 1906 through 1913? Hint

Robinson won an award for his poem "The Mystery of Passion," the too-thinly disguised story of their affair.

Una's lawyer husband Teddy sent her to Europe for a year to think things through and save their marriage.

The Los Angeles Times published a sensational story 'Two Points of the Eternal Triangle' about their affair.

Robinson avoided Una by studying forestry in Seattle, but was right back in the affair when he accidentally met Una a mere 30 minutes after returning.

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Question 3 of 10

3. Robinson Jeffers' life and writing are both tightly connected to the Big Sur landscape. However, Una and Robin had planned to live in Lyme Regis, a small village on the southern coast of England. When their move was delayed they found Carmel almost by chance, and settled into what Jeffers called their "inevitable place." What had delayed their move to England long enough for them to find Carmel? Hint

Una discovered she was pregnant, and then World War I started.

Una took time to complete her MA and then discovered she was pregnant.

Robinson self-published his first book of poems, "Flagons and Apples," while Una completed her MA degree.

Robinson attempted to enlist in the Navy, and after he failed the physical he worked as a mason to make enough money for a move.

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Question 4 of 10

4. Living in Carmel affected Jeffers greatly. When he turned 31, he had what Una called "a kind of awakening such as adolescents and religious converts are said to experience." These lines from "The Tower Beyond Tragedy" captures some of the nature of this rebirth. Which line does NOT belong? Hint

I entered the life of the brown forest / And the great life of the ancient peaks, the patience of stone

I enjoyed a vision, / Endured betrayal, you must not ask me to endure final defeat

I and my love are one; no desire but fulfilled; no passion but peace

I was mankind also, a moving lichen / On the cheek of the round stone

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Question 5 of 10

5. The philosophy that Jeffers developed as a result of his awakening he called "Inhumanism". He explained his thinking in a letter to a reader: "This whole [universe] is in all its parts so beautiful, and is felt by me to be so intensely in earnest, that I am compelled to love it, and to think of it as divine. . . . there is peace, freedom, I might say a kind of salvation, in turning one's affections outward toward this one God . . ."

Which of these lines explains the OPPOSITE of inhumanism--gives Jeffers' understanding of "sin" if you will? Hint

Integrity is wholeness, the greatest beauty is / Organic wholeness

Consider if you like how the lilies grow,

Love those who are aliens / For you yourselves were aliens

Things are so beautiful, your love will follow your eyes;

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Question 6 of 10

6. In 1922 Jeffers again self-published a volume, "Tamar and Other Poems", which never sold. However, it later was widely reviewed, highly praised, and eventually republished by Boni & Liveright as "Roan Stallion, Tamar, and Other Poems". What event turned a box of books in Jeffers' attic into a national best seller? Hint

Jeffers won the prestigious 'Stanford Prize' for his poetic drama "The Tower Beyond Tragedy"

The Book Club of California featured Jeffers in their "Continent's End: An Anthology of Contemporary California Poets"

The newspapers reported that a good friend's suicide was caused by 'dark thoughts' given him by reading "Tamar"

Orson Wells read a copy sent to him by Jeffers' agent and turned "Tamar" into a radio drama

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Question 7 of 10

7. Reviewers raved about the force of Tamar's story then; critics now see lines like these as evidence that Jeffers has tapped into the force of what powerful story retold in modern garb?

" . . . She in the starlight
And little noises of the rising tide
Naked and not ashamed bore a third part
With the ocean and the keen stars in the consistence
And dignity of the world. She was white stone,
Passion and despair and grief had stripped away
Whatever is rounded and approachable
In the body of woman, hers looked hard, long lines
Narrowing down from the shoulder-bones, no appeal,
A weapon and no sheath, fire without fuel . . ." Hint

Eve's temptation by the serpent and the resulting fall of all humanity

Tamar's rape and the resulting civil war in King David's Israel

The family drama known as the "Electra complex"

The myth of the eternal return and "Mother" Nature

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Question 8 of 10

8. Jeffers had a quite successful career, but probably his greatest popular success was a verse play he translated upon the suggestion of Dame Judith Anderson. The success was partially because Anderson was at the height of her career when she starred in the play on Broadway, but it was also because Jeffers' adaptation of the play was brilliant. The "New York Times" called the production a landmark of the modern stage, and after a run of 214 performances it toured the nation and the world, including Denmark, Italy, and several other countries. Which play was it? Hint

Sophocles' "Antigone"

Euripides' "Medea"

Aeschylus' "The Suppliants"

Aristophanes' "Lysistrata"

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Question 9 of 10

9. Jeffers wrote these lines to Una in 1952. Why?

"Whom should I write for dear, but for you? Two years have passed,
The wound is bleeding--new and will never heal.
I used to write for you, and give you the poem
When it was written, and wait uneasily your verdict . . ." Hint

Una left him after he had had an affair.

Una had died of cancer.

Una had developed Alzheimer's.

Una had grown weary of his poetry.

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Question 10 of 10

10. Jeffers died on January 20 1962. Which is the best statement of the state of his poetic reputation at that time? Hint

He was largely ignored.

The critics still praised him, but the public had stopped buying his books.

His writings were under regular attack for his political leanings.

The critics considered his work full of "fustian and rodomontade", but the public had kept buying his books.

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: English, French, German, Greek, and Latin

Quite impressive for a young man of twelve! On the other hand, Dr. Jeffers was "a scholar of Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic, Babylonian, and Assyrian, and a student of German and French."

James Karman, author of the biography "Robinson Jeffers: Poet of California", is the source of all of the quoted information in this quiz. You can find this particular information on p. 8.

Answer: Robinson won an award for his poem "The Mystery of Passion," the too-thinly disguised story of their affair.

The story goes that, just returned from Seattle, Robinson was not even home yet when Una sat on the streetcar across from him.

Answer: Una discovered she was pregnant, and then World War I started.

Jeffers had workmen build "Tor House" 50 feet from the Pacific ocean. They used local granite boulders, even stones taken from the beach next to the house. Robinson himself worked on the project as an apprentice stonemason. With the skills he learned, he added to the house himself over the years. His most impressive contribution was Hawk Tower, and when it was finished did most of his writing in the study he had built at the top. Tor House and Carmel made a great home for Jeffers for the next half century. His poem "Tor House" includes the lines:
"If you should look for this place after a handful of lifetimes . . .
Look for foundations of sea-worn granite, my fingers had the art
To make stone love stone, you will find some remnant."

Answer: I enjoyed a vision, / Endured betrayal, you must not ask me to endure final defeat

This line is from "Woodrow Wilson". James Karman covers Jeffers' awakening in pp. 35-70, with the material for this question coming primarily from 46-48.

5. The philosophy that Jeffers developed as a result of his awakening he called "Inhumanism". He explained his thinking in a letter to a reader: "This whole [universe] is in all its parts so beautiful, and is felt by me to be so intensely in earnest, that I am compelled to love it, and to think of it as divine. . . . there is peace, freedom, I might say a kind of salvation, in turning one's affections outward toward this one God . . ." Which of these lines explains the OPPOSITE of inhumanism--gives Jeffers' understanding of "sin" if you will?

Answer: Love those who are aliens / For you yourselves were aliens

Actually, the line offered as the "correct" answer is a slight adaption of Deuteronomy 10:19. Jeffers would argue that loving humanity apart from nature, even others, detracts us from loving 'organic wholeness'.

Answer: The Book Club of California featured Jeffers in their "Continent's End: An Anthology of Contemporary California Poets"

1922 was a major year in English language literature, with Joyce's "Ulysses", Eliot's "The Waste Land", and other important works being published. Reviewers, however, put Jeffers ahead of them all. James Rorty, for one example, wrote in the "New York Herald Tribune" that "Nothing as good as its kind has been written in America . . . America has a new poet of genius." Mark Van Doren wrote: "few are as rich with the beauty and strength which belong to genius alone."

7. Reviewers raved about the force of Tamar's story then; critics now see lines like these as evidence that Jeffers has tapped into the force of what powerful story retold in modern garb? " . . . She in the starlight And little noises of the rising tide Naked and not ashamed bore a third part With the ocean and the keen stars in the consistence And dignity of the world. She was white stone, Passion and despair and grief had stripped away Whatever is rounded and approachable In the body of woman, hers looked hard, long lines Narrowing down from the shoulder-bones, no appeal, A weapon and no sheath, fire without fuel . . ."

Answer: The myth of the eternal return and "Mother" Nature

Karman quotes Robert Brophy as pointing out that "Tamar" and "The Waste Land" are based on the same myth.

Answer: Euripides' "Medea"

Karman adds that Euripides, the fifth century B.C. Greek writer of the original "Medea", was a poet with whom Jeffers identified and whose themes were familiar to him. Perfomed in 1947, just after the close of World War II, "Medea" was thought by some to encourage a cynical view of the violence of war, but it was so brilliantly adapted that the harsh vision that usually turned people away was well received.

9. Jeffers wrote these lines to Una in 1952. Why? "Whom should I write for dear, but for you? Two years have passed, The wound is bleeding--new and will never heal. I used to write for you, and give you the poem When it was written, and wait uneasily your verdict . . ."

Answer: Una had died of cancer.

Jeffers grieved for several years. Karman reports that "although troubled, Jeffers was not constantly depressed. . . . One night during this time, after a dinner that included oysters from the East Coast sent to the Jeffers by friends, Lee found Robinson carefully disposing of the shells.

As she tells the story, he was carefully placing them in an area once used by Indians for the abalone feasts. 'What are you doing?' she asked politely. 'I'm putting these here to confuse future archaeologists,' he replied, smiling."

10. Jeffers died on January 20 1962. Which is the best statement of the state of his poetic reputation at that time?

Answer: He was largely ignored.

"Fustian and rodomontade" both mean "pretentious'. Kenneth Rexroth was the poet and critic who used that rodomotade language in a dismissive review. The review may have been overblown, but Rexroth told the truth when he also wrote "Today, young people simply do not read him."

Jeffers reputation has recovered somewhat in recent years, but his writing will probably never again reach the stature it had when he was put on the cover of the April 4, 1932 issue of TIME magazine.

Source: Author NormanW5

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