Upon receiving his graduate degree from the University of California, poet Robinson Jeffers and his wife moved to a small coastal village in California, Carmel. This place would pose as a muse for one of his acclaimed poems, “Carmel Point.” The scenic element a specific area in this village is the subject matter that Jeffers attends to in the poem. “Carmel Point” is a meditative piece, and while very lyrical and pastoral in nature, moves with the structure of a traditional sonnet, presenting the reader with a breaking point that contrasts the subjectivity of human nature with the objectivity of nature; albeit the poem has one extra line than the traditional sonnet.
Jeffers begins with a reflection on the exquisite landscape that is Carmel Point. It is untouched by things that are impure, but its tragic downfall is the invasion of civilization. This is an issue that does not rest easy with the poem’s speaker. Humanity has been intrusive to this virgin sanctuary, but nature has a permanency about it, and a strength that is able to withstand the ebb and flow of mankind. The speaker notes that the beauty of this place, however, will not be affected eternally as its “image of pristine beauty lives in the very grain of the granite” (10-11). As a whole, the nature of this piece can be read with an annoyance towards humanity for it’s invasive nature, but sheds a romantic tone on the pastoral elements of the piece, which can be seen in the poem’s first six lines.
The poem concludes with the poet’s speaker giving a call to action to the reader, that “we must uncenter our minds from ourselves” (13) and finds way to “unhumanize our views a little” (14). The speaker intends for these ideas to be in the best interest of the land from which humanity was created, and that man can find a way to be harmonious with the earth’s landscape.
