Essay Questions

How does Robert Graves’ “White Goddess” Subvert the notion of white superiority?

The saints and God Apollo do not approve of the white goddess. The disapproval, which is on religious grounds, affirms that she is not religiously credible and superior in any way.

The speaker uses the line, “Sister of the mirage and echo” to challenge her superiority. The sentence implies that she is not real despite her whiteness and status of a goddess. The Goddess in illusory; thus unreal. Accordingly, a fanciful goddess cannot be supreme.

The speaker hints at the goddess’ negative attributes such as being unreliable due to the betrayals she indulged in the past and the savage things that she did. The use of the words “cruelty” and “betrayals” to describe the goddess’ actions means that she is flawed.

In what ways does Robert Graves’ “White Goddess” augment the concept of white superiority?

First, the title “White Goddess” hints that whiteness and being a Goddess are intertwined. The ideology would have been different if the title of the poem were “Black Goddess”.

Second, the speaker’s inclination to meet the white goddess exacerbates the white goddess’ superiority. The speaker intimates that he’s strong headed; thus, not even religious factors could bar him from pursuing his endeavor of finding the white goddess.

The obstacles that the speaker must endure as the cold ice are an indicator of the white goddess’ superiority. If she were not superior, then the speaker would have easily traced her without many stumbling blocks along the way.