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The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Graves
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 265336
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0374504938
Dewey Decimal Number: 809.1
EAN: 9780374504939
ASIN: 0374504938
Publication Date: January 1, 1966
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Condition: Good condition
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Amazon.com Review
Robert Graves, the late British poet and novelist, was also known for his studies of the mythological and psychological sources of poetry. With The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth, Graves was able to combine many of his passions into one work. While the book is so poetically written that many of the passages amount to prose poems, it is also frequently plot driven enough to feel like a novel, and it is rich with scholarly insight into the deep wells of poetry. Especially fascinating is the chapter in which Graves explores the ancient and ongoing practice of poets' invoking the muse. Graves details the practice in both the Eastern and Western literary traditions, and shows specific similarities and differences among Greek, British, and Irish tales and myths about the muse. Graves has much to offer students of history and myth, but poetry lovers will also be fascinated with The White Goddess.
Product Description
The White Goddess is perhaps the finest of Robert Graves's works on the psychological and mythological sources of poetry. In this tapestry of poetic and religious scholarship, Graves explores the stories behind the earliest of European deities—the White Goddess of Birth, Love, and Death—who was worshipped under countless titles. He also uncovers the obscure and mysterious power of "pure poetry" and its peculiar and mythic language.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
 He doesn't back up any of his hypotheses May 26, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you want a true book on Celtic myth and not some made up, undocumented treatise of some guys imagination then do NOT buy this book. Buy The Gaelic Otherworld, or the Carmina Gadelica, or Irish Bardic Poetry by Bergin. Buy anything but this book because you WON'T find the truth that you're seeking in it's pages.
 My Personal Opinion September 8, 2007
This is a very difficult book to read..and it is meant to be. I believe it needs to be read 2 or 3 times to really grasp the whole thing. But, this I can guarantee:you will discover many things that you never even dreamed existed. This book is for the scholar and the amature alike.
Robert Graves considered himself a Poet first and foremost, but wrote prose to pay the bills!!! The kind of poetry this book deals with is ancient.Originally it was sung by Bards primarily in the Celtic world, but dated back to the Ancients- Hebrew, Aramaic,Egyption, Greek,Pelasgian Minoan, Myceanean and eventually reaching the British Isles where it was learned in Insular and Continental Gaelic, all using secret and sacred means to pass it on. For the most part it was learned by rote, or memory, long before being written down. This is a subject that is difficult to grasp...but once fully understood leads to many new/old ideas,it is one of the best books I have ever read [and I have read ALOT]. It is a must read for those studying comparative religion, Mythology, Ancient Civilizations, Etymology, the Goddess [and later Gods] Paganism, Wicca, etc.I cherish it so much I have 2 copies!!! Blessed Be.
in the search of the buck January 25, 2006
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
this is the best book i readed. i made it by the portuguese translation, but it's all there. for the studants of paganism, wicca, witchcraft and old religions, it is a must. the history and the links among centuries, folks and cultures, since the stone ages. in ours days, is an outrage to call someone a poet. the inspirations of the fillis, the ollaves, the bards and menestrels are hughest than we can imagine. the gwion riddling poesy are a surprising lifting up the veils! that book must be the first one, to who wants realize the pagan path.
 Betwixt Heaven & Hell "The White Goddess" once ruled! December 5, 2005
7 out of 38 found this review helpful
"The White Goddess," at first, filled me with AWE. In the second READ I walked a tightrope without a NET underneath. The third & fourth READ gave me a definite sense that Robert Graves had written IT in a 'fevered flaw' via an Energy-deep within-coverting HIM...a thing the ancient Bards & Ollaves were surely wary of!! It seemed as though SOMETHING emerged wanting to put Prison Bars around the 'White Goddess' and Graves being an accomplished Scholar, Writer & Poet, plus, "a ladies Man" became IT's channel. For him, SHE became a Sexual Siren, his obsession, his MUSE...a conduit for his own Illusions...like a Drug to sooth his 'Fevered Brow!! Strangely, it seemed like a Prescripted GAME where during THIS milieu, the Triplet Team Goddess: Daughter-Mother-Crone arrived BEING promptly relegated to Bed, Kitchen & Kindercare...while his Favored FANCY...the Ivory skinned, red haired, light-eyed Cerridwen remained his Pirated Possession!!
To his CREDIT, however, HE saw & understood the 'STEALING' of her Gifts & Talents-her Knowledge of Letters, Numbers & Words-her Brilliant Intellect-her Logic & Creativity & her Prime Importance to Europe's Emergence. Indeed, he shares the Power Plays that finally TOPPLED "The White Goddess" from her Throne & how the(Intrusion?) of an imported middle eastern GOD became her Assassin!! He writes HOW this Intrusion denigrated the Elder Euros from themselves...from their Gnostic Guts...from the machinery of their Bodies-always, before, accessing IT like a computer & understanding IT's Robotics DOWN to their "figuring" FINGERS!! Yes, Graves appreciated this mastery-not turning UP his nose at the MAGIC of such animus abilities...very insightful for a learned Scholar & Poet. He also shares the myriad NAMES of Europe's olden Gods & Goddesses...their battles & exploits...their Knowledge of themselves within the WEB, plus, their telepathic ties to Nature, Plants & TREES as Dendron Diviners. For all the 'if's, ands & buts' in "The White Goddess" Robert Graves opened a DOOR to the everyday people about the Elder Euros with his poetic prowess. He emphased that when Europe lost it's Goddess IT, also, lost a PART of whom & what THEY truly were...for THEY lost their Grimoad GOD, as well!!
In reality, "The White Goddess" had always lived a Parthenogenic PATH through her PSYCHE as a Wise Weaver of Words. She churned & charmed the CAULDRON of Creation from WITHIN her own Being & could "SEER" the Dimensions of Dream within SPACE & TIME. She did not Pander her Power, staying firm in her FEET, concise & conceptual in her understanding that the WEB could become a TRAP...tacky, tricky & tarnished...imprisoning ONE. She KNEW that Existence held Eternity beyond Life & Death & never became caught in Dramatic Dogma. She guided from the Brain of her right HAND & managed from the Gut of left HAND...always influencing ONE's inner identity as an ISLAND, yet, a pivotal part of their 'Simulating Surroundings'.
So.o.o, READ "The White Goddess" with an EVEN Eye as you muse within about the Immortal Grimoire Goddess. Consider what SHE knew about Fate, Fame & Fortune; that Destiny reflected ONES Deeds &, in the END, there is always a Beginning...&, maybe, Robert von Ranke Graves is finding his Grimoad GOD, within, apologizing to "The White Goddess" about such mistaken ideas about HER morality & having Cinematic Conversations about this 'Tarnal' Paradise(Webster's-circular enclosure; a walled Garden) of Earth where ONE must walk the Thin Blue Line..."betwixt" Heaven & Hell!?
An insightful read November 9, 2005
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
I think a lot of people have missed the point of this book. Robert Graves was a poet, not a historian or an expert on Celtic mythology. The subtitle for The White Goddess is "A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth." He was attempting to interpret the ancient poems. While I did not always agree with his interpretations, I found them to be quite intriguing.
Ancient poets were like the rock stars of today. They kept the history of the people, and may have been trying to hide secret information in their poetry that these ancient people did not want falling into the wrong hands. Mr. Graves was trying to break these secret codes.
I didn't pay too much attention to what Mr. Graves was saying about the Celtic Ogham, but more about the different faces of the Goddess, the lesser known parts of Greek mythology, and the different properties of trees as they related to the ancient people. Ancient people lived their lives shrouded in superstition, harboring a great respect for the earth, something we in this modern age of self-destruction, would do well to learn from.
At times, Mr. Graves jumped around too much for my taste, but I still found this to be a very interesting book. Whether you believe the Celts originated in Greece or not, this is still a book filled with important poetic insight.
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