The White Goddess
(Robert Graves)
The White Goddess
Robert Graves
Review by Garnet Brooks
Graves? book, a work of nonfiction, is a compendium of knowledge about myth, ancient culture, and literature. The wealth of facts is not the core of the volume though. His central argument is that there is a kind of code obscured by time and lost reference and that it is possible to decode poetic texts revealing their original meaning. Graves believes that ancient bardic lore, which was memorized and recited to groups of people who were illiterate, was encoded with mnemonic clues to help both the bard and the listener remember and understand it. He gives several examples of this one among them being two different versions of a tree alphabet poem. One of the most closely analyzed poems is the Song of Amergin.
Graves? work presents a good deal of material that is of Welsh or Irish origin, both poems and mythology. Some of this reaches back to earlier layers of history often organized around the mythology of the White Goddess who in various incarnations across ancient Near East and European cultures is essentially a moon goddess. To some extent the White Goddess is seen as the muse of all poets. Such a simple statement though belies the complexity and richness of Graves? work which is crammed with detail. One may read this and come away with a fair base of knowledge of ancient mythology and magic. His book is a good starting place for those who want to read some of the original texts like The Red Book of Hergest, The Mabinogion, The Red Branch Tales, or the classics like the Irish Myths and Legends compendium by Lady Gregory. For those who are interested in ancient myth, Graves? volume is a good base to move on to Sir James George Frazier?s nine volume The Golden Bough.
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