The Eye (Poem by Robinson Jeffers)

[Peter_Morris]

Text here

The Eye - The Eye Poem by Robinson Jeffers

Neither our present blood-feud with the brave dwarfs
Nor any future world-quarrel of westering
And eastering man, the bloody migrations, greed of power, clash of
faiths–
Is a speck of dust on the great scale-pan.

I studied this poem in Eng Lit class when I was a child. There’s something I’ve always wondered:

Who or what are the brave dwarfs?

[Arnold_Winkelried]

Wild guess:
Maybe Germans, World War I or World War II (when was the poem written?) Dwarfs referring to Wagner’s Nibelungen?

[Peter_Morris]

@Arnold_Winkelried

(when was the poem written?)

I don’t know. I’ve searched bur can’t find the answer to that.

Dwarfs referring to Wagner’s Nibelungen?

Maybe. It doesn’t sound very likely, though.

[Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew]

Since he refers to the Pacific, I would assume the Japanese; however, the poem is apparently from 1948, and so post-dates World War II.

[Peter_Morris]

Any other ideas?