The stars go over the lonely ocean�by robinson jeffers
Robinson jeffers 1887-1962
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Free verse!
AKA no regular meter
Four Septets
There are a few rhymes…
See if you can find them.
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Themes
Politics, Nature, Humanity, Life Cycles, Disallusionment
Unhappy about some far off things�That are not my affair, wandering�Along the coast and up the lean ridges,�I saw in the evening�The stars go over the lonely ocean,�And a black-maned wild boar�Plowing with his snout on Mal Paso Mountain.
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Historical Allusion: “far off things”
The poem was written at the start of WWII.
Enjambment:
Creates a sense of wandering down the page.
Personification:
The speaker’s loneliness is projected onto the ocean, thus making it a pathetic fallacy.
Symbolism:
Wild boar becomes a symbol of freedom and instinct, the opposite of humanity.
Plosive Alliteration
“black/boar,” “Plowing/Paso,” “maned/Mal/Mountain show the power of the wild boar.
Mal Paso Mountain (translates to “mis-step”)
The likely setting was near his home in Carmel, California, called Mal Paso Creek or Canyon.
Refrain
Repeats the title and shows the vast universe and how small our problems are in comparison.
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The old monster snuffled, "Here are sweet roots,�Fat grubs, slick beetles and sprouted acorns.�The best nation in Europe has fallen,�And that is Finland,�But the stars go over the lonely ocean,"�The old black-bristled boar,�Tearing the sod on Mal Paso Mountain.
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Shift:
The poem takes on a fable-like quality.
Sibilance:
Slips through the menu of the boar’s meal, snaking in and out of the delicious foods available.
Anthropomorphism: The old monster talks throughout the poem, expressing his opinions freely.
Historical Allusion:
The “Stars…” poem and another called “Finland is Down” were published in the March 1940 Poetry magazine. Finland signed a peace treaty that ended the “Winter War” with the USSR, surrendering 9% of its land, but keeping its independence.
Refrain
Is exactly the same except for the word “But” which seems to say, “yes, all that is going on in the human world, but look at the vastness of the sky and ocean…it is nothing in comparison.”
Repetition and alterations
“Black-maned” replaced by “old black-bristled boar” (more plosive)
“Plowing the sod” replaced by “Tearing the sod” (more natural)
The second stanza alterations are more bore/nature-like while the first stanza was more of a human description of the boar. The second stanza gives the boar more animalistic qualities.
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"The world's in a bad way, my man,�And bound to be worse before it mends;�Better lie up in the mountain here�Four or five centuries,�While the stars go over the lonely ocean,"�Said the old father of wild pigs,�Plowing the fallow on Mal Paso Mountain.
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Colloquialism
The boar is kind of like a surfer-dude here in his laid back, chill attitude. His advice is to hang out in the mountains until everything blows over.
Refrain
The refrain changes the word “But” to “While” which adds to the colloquial conversation of the boar. The “while” gives the idea that time, like the ocean and stars, is vast, and that this human problem will blow over
Repetition and Alterations
The old boar is now the father-figure, the patriarch of the ancient boar family, and while he doles out advice, he never forgets nature and continues to “plow the fallow.”
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“Keep clear of the dupes that talk democracy�And the dogs that talk revolution,�Drunk with talk, liars and believers.�I believe in my tusks.�Long live freedom and damn the ideologies,"�Said the gamey black-maned boar�Tusking the turf on Mal Paso Mountain.
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Dental Alliteration “D”
“dupes,” “democracy,” �“dogs,” “drunk,” and “damn” drive home the message like a drumbeat. �Liquid Alliteration
Creates a flow toward freedom, nature and away from ideologues that confuse the world.
Diacope and Alliteration “T”
The boar repeats the word “talk” (diacope) three times to emphasize that what the speaker is being told is all talk. The alliteration of “T” brings the reader and the speaker back to nature: the tusks, essentially telling him to get back to what is true and real. Ignore the politicians and those who talk of war. Freedom is in nature.
“liars and believers”
Don’t believe the “liars” aka politicians. Don’t believe your vote actually counts for something.
Repetition/Alterations
The poems final two lines end with the boar going back his natural state. He is “gamey” and “tusking the turf,” words describing him from a human perspective.
Refrain absent from final stanza
Makes the poem almost circular, pointing back to the title
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Write a paragraph or two on the ways Jeffers presents �the Boar in the poem.