Cawdor/Medea: A Long Poem after Euripides Book

The Californian poet Robinson Jeffers described his written work as, "An exhibition of essential elements by the burning away through pain and ruin of inertia and the unessential," and Cawdor is the work that I value the most.

As a Carmel native, I treasure my souvenirs of Robinson Jeffers: Selected Poems (1965) by Robinson Jeffers [Calm and Full the ocean], (Love that,) Not Man Apart (from that): Photographs of the Big Sur Coast, Lines From Robinson Jeffers [Photographs of the Big Sur Coast] (1969) by David Brower and Robinson Jeffers [The Beaks of Eagles-The Beach Boys (1973)] and Medea: Freely adapted from the Medea by Euripides by Robinson Jeffers, signed "Sincerely, Robinson Jeffers" for my mother, a dramatic lit major from UC Berkely who sewed costumes for Carmel, CA's Golden Bough Theater. Later, I borrowed and admired copies of Roan Stallion, Tamar, The Double Axe, and The Women at Point Sur.

Back to Cawdor wherein the poet writes, "My father--his thoughts were deep,
Patient and wise--believed it [life] was good because it was growing.
At first, it was a morsel of slime in the sea,
It grew to be worms and fishes, lizards and snakes [and eagles (iconic to RB)],
You see the progress the progress, then the things with hair and hot blood,
It was coming up from the ocean and climbing mountains,
Subduing the earth, molding its bundle of nerves
In the magnificent mind of man, and passing
Beyond man, to more wonders. That helped my father!
He loved that. You and me, of course, it can't help,
Because we know nothing goes on forever.
What good is better and better if best draws a blank?"