Egress (Annotated)

Written fifty-five years after T. S. Eliot’s "The Waste Land" was first published in 1922, Ronald F. Davis’ "Egress" shares the same broad scope of poetic vision as that of the earlier work. Like "The Waste Land," the style of "Egress" is that of an epic-length dramatic monologue, marked by numerous allusions to classic and obscure works.

Written in 1977, "Egress" has the benefit of over a half-century of additional human expression to incorporate into its Postmodernist appraisal of Western civilization. It accomplishes its poetic goal by means of a sweeping survey of the works of art, literature, philosophy and music that have become manifestations of the changes in perspective that represent the prevailing intellectual worldview.

"Egress" utilizes a voyage by the last Romantic as a metaphor for the evolutionary journey that has transpired from the once-dominant state of Romantic subjectivity to the Modernist state of objectivity which has now become predominant, permeating all forms of human creativity. This poetic voyage reveals what has been lost by such a shift in intellectual perspective, and also questions what has actually been gained by such a fundamental change.

Fully annotated, this authoritative edition clarifies the complex allusions of the verse and references the personal, historical and mythical influences that inspired this Postmodernist epic.