The middle-length narrative Mara is a well-crafted, powerful, and empathetic piece. Of all Jeffers’ narrative works, Mara has got to be one of the most compelling. The remainder of this volume seems, frankly, quite dreary and uninspired, as it shows Jeffers sinking into the mire of political posturing. The following volume, The Double Axe (1948), would suffer from the same hang-up, though it would show several points of dark light.

Contents

• Mara
• The Bowl of Blood
• That Noble Flower
• I Shall Laugh Purely
• Prescription for Painful Ends
• Faith
• The Excesses of God
• The Sirens
• Birthday
• My Dear Love
• The House Dog’s Grave
• Come, Little Birds (1939, Poetry Magazine)
• Contemplation of the Sword
• Watch the Lights Fade
• Nerves
• The Soul’s Desert
• The Day is a Poem (1940, Poetry Magazine: 9, 9, 1939)
• Finland is Down (1940, Poetry Magazine)
• Great Men (1940, Poetry Magazine)
• Moon and Five Planets
• Battle
• The Stars Go over the Lonely Ocean (1940, Poetry Magazine)
• For Una
• Two Christmas Cards
• Drunken Charlie
• Shine, Empire
• The Bloody Sire (1940, Poetry Magazine)
• Be Angry at the Sun