Wars and Oceans

“The Eye”

The Atlantic is a stormy moat; and the Mediterranean,

The blue pool in the old garden,

More than five thousand years has drunk sacrifice

Of ships and blood, and shines in the sun; but here the Pacific--

Our ships, planes, wars are perfectly irrelevant.

Neither our present blood-feud with the brave dwarfs

Nor any future world-quarrel of westering

And eastering man, the bloody migrations, greed of power, clash of

faiths--

Is a speck of dust on the great scale-pan.

Here from this mountain shore, headland beyond stormy headland

plunging like dolphins through the blue sea-smoke

Into pale sea--look west at the hill of water: it is half the

planet:

this dome, this half-globe, this bulging

Eyeball of water, arched over to Asia,

Australia and white Antartica: those are the eyelids that never

close;

this is the staring unsleeping

Eye of the earth; and what it watches is not our wars.

Published in 1948, this poem and others in its volume became highly disliked by the public for its blatant anti-WWII messages and its seeming unpatriotism. Robinson Jeffers was well known for his “inhumanism” or idea that mankind plays little role in the continuing beauty of nature. This, and his belief in isolationism is displayed in “The Eye” where he considers the power war has in changing things, and its little impact on the non-human world.

Jeffers begins the poem by reminding the reader of the ancient power of the oceans. The Atlantic is related in metaphor to a “stormy moat” giving it a feeling of protecting, but also as if it is being churned by the action of the war. He then describes the Mediterranean as a “blue pool” that makes it feel peaceful and polite, but it has been drowning and capturing ships for centuries. This also reminds the audience of the immortality of the oceans against the constant death of the people upon them. As Jeffers lived on the Californian coast, he then focuses on his view onto the Pacific ocean, and the war being fought over it. He talks about how the Pacific is massive and great, relating it to a large eye. Because the eye (ocean) is so large, and the war so small in both a time and size comparison, he points out nature's prevailing over human flaws.

In building up the strength of the oceans, Jeffers also belittles the actions of people. He mentions “the bloody migrations” possibly in reference to the immigration into America or the Oregon trail and the deadly journey West. He also discusses greed of power in accusation at Germany for their causing war for more power, and possibly America for its colonization occurring at the same time.  “Clash of faiths” is also pointing to Germany and its persecution of Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Gypsies. He does not see any of these actions as reasonable or validated. Compared to the power of the oceans, how can a war between humans have meaning besides bringing destruction to themselves?

Jeffers’s poetry is not only full of rich content, but of strong writing and poetic elements that enhance it. He uses alliteration such as “sea-smoke” “shines in the sun” to continue the flow of the blank verse. In line 15 he repeats to “o” sound with “dome” and “half-globe” to reinforce the shape of the round earth. He also makes use of metaphor in comparing the oceans to smaller bodies of water to give each their own more distinct feeling.The Mediterranean is personified as having “drunk sacrifice” of many ships, starting Jeffers progress in making nature and Earth a being.

Jeffers often writes about nature and its long-lasting power beyond that of humans, but “The Eye” also begins to connect people together. He points out how things people have created such as wealth, faith, and regionality have begun to drive them apart, but in nature these things do not exist and it will continue on despite what people are doing to themselves. By 1948, the atomic bomb had already been used in warfare, and I don’t know if he chose to ignore its impact on nature, or if he thought that it was in small scale compared to the immensity of oceans. Jeffers also doesn’t approach this poem with a solution to war, he only wrote it to point out war’s uniqueness to humans and how that may be because of its insufficiency.