(eBook PDF) Introduction to Geography

16th Edition by Mark Bjelland

Go to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-geography-16th-edition-by
-mark-bjelland/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Introduction to Geography, 16e (ePub convert) 16th

Edition Mark Bjelland - eBook PDF

https://ebooksecure.com/download/introduction-to-
geography-16e-epub-convert-ebook-pdf/

(eBook PDF) Introduction to Probability by Mark Ward

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
probability-by-mark-ward/

(eBook PDF) Introduction to Geography 15th Edition by

Arthur Getis

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
geography-15th-edition-by-arthur-getis/

Introduction to Geography 15th Edition (eBook PDF)

http://ebooksecure.com/product/introduction-to-geography-15th-
edition-ebook-pdf/
(eBook PDF) Introduction to Information Systems 16th
Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
information-systems-16th-edition/

Introduction to Management Accounting 16th Edition

(eBook PDF)

http://ebooksecure.com/product/introduction-to-management-
accounting-16th-edition-ebook-pdf/

(eBook PDF) Introduction to Geography: People, Places &

Environment 6th Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
geography-people-places-environment-6th-edition/

(Original PDF) Geosystems: An Introduction to Physical

Geography 10th Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/original-pdf-geosystems-an-
introduction-to-physical-geography-10th-edition/

(eBook PDF) Urbanization: An Introduction to Urban

Geography 3rd Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-urbanization-an-
introduction-to-urban-geography-3rd-edition/
Illinois, and San Diego State University (SDSU), where he held the Birch
Endowed Chair of Geographical Studies. In 2002, he received the AAG
Distinguished Scholarship Award. Professor Getis is a member and an
elected fellow of the University Consortium of Geographical Information
Sciences, the Western Regional Science Association, and the Regional
Science Association International. Currently he is Distinguished Professor
of Geography Emeritus at SDSU.
 page iv

BRIEF CONTENTS

Preface x

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 Techniques of Geographic Analysis 20

Chapter 3 Physical Geography: Landforms 47

Chapter 4 Physical Geography: Weather and Climate 76

Chapter 5 Population Geography 113

Chapter 6 Cultural Geography 144

Chapter 7 Human Interaction 186

Chapter 8 Political Geography 214

Chapter 9 Economic Geography: Agriculture and Primary Activities 245

Chapter 10 Economic Geography: Manufacturing and Services 271

Chapter 11 An Urban World 293

Chapter 12 The Geography of Natural Resources 328

Chapter 13 Human Impact on the Environment 368

Appendices A-1
Glossary G-1
Index I-1
 page v

CONTENTS

Preface x

Sean White/Design Pics

Chapter 1

Introduction 1
1.1 What Is Geography? 3
1.2 Evolution of the Discipline 3
Subfields of Geography 4
Why Geography Matters 5
1.3 Some Core Geographic Concepts 6
Location, Direction, and Distance 7
Size and Scale 9
Physical and Cultural Attributes 10
Attributes of Place Are Always Changing 11
Interrelations between Places 12
Place Similarity and Regions 13
1.4 Geography’s Themes and Standards 17
1.5 Organization of This Book 18
Key Words 19
Thinking Geographically 19

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division

Chapter 2

Techniques of Geographic Analysis 20

2.1 Maps as the Tools of Geography 21
2.2 Locating Points on a Sphere 22
The Geographic Grid 22
Land Survey Systems 24
2.3 Map Projections 24
Area 24
Shape 24
Distance 25
Direction 27
2.4 Scale 27
2.5 Types of Maps 28
Topographic Maps and Terrain Representation 28
Thematic Maps and Data Representation 31
Map Misuse 34
2.6 Contemporary Spatial Technologies 35
Remote Sensing 35
Global Navigations Satellite Systems 38
Geography & Public Policy: Civilian Spy Satellites 40
Virtual and Interactive Maps 41
Geography & Public Policy: Citizenship and Mapping 42
2.7 Integrating Technology: Geographic Information Systems 43
The Geographic Database 43
Applications of GIS 44
 Systems, Maps, and Models 44
Summary of Key Concepts 45
Key Words 45
Thinking Geographically 45

Thomas Roche/Getty Images

Chapter 3

Physical Geography: Landforms 47

3.1 Earth Materials 48
Igneous Rocks 50
Sedimentary Rocks 50
Metamorphic Rocks 50
3.2 Geologic Time 50
3.3 Movements of the Continents 51
3.4 Tectonic Forces 55
Diastrophism 55
Volcanism 59

page vi
3.5 Gradational Processes 61
Weathering 61
Mass Movement 63
Erosional Agents and Deposition 63
3.6 Landform Regions 73
Geography & Public Policy: Beaches on the Brink 74
Summary of Key Concepts 75
Key Words 75
Thinking Geographically 75
FEMA News Photo

Chapter 4

Physical Geography: Weather and Climate 76

4.1 Air Temperature 78
Earth Inclination 78
Reflection and Reradiation 80
Lapse Rate 82
4.2 Air Pressure and Winds 83
Pressure Gradient Force 83
The Convection System 83
Land and Sea Breezes 84
Mountain and Valley Breezes 84
The Coriolis Effect 84
The Frictional Effect 86
The Global Air-Circulation Pattern 86
4.3 Ocean Currents 87
4.4 Moisture in the Atmosphere 88
Types of Precipitation 89
Storms 93
4.5 Climate Regions 96
Tropical Climates (A) 96
Dryland Climates (B) 101
Mild Midlatitude Climates (C) 103
Severe Midlatitude Climates (D) 105
Arctic Climates (E) 106
Highland Climates (H) 107
4.6 Climate Change 107
Long-Term Climate Change 108
Short-Term Climate Change 108
The Greenhouse Effect and Global Climate Change 109
Summary of Key Concepts 112
Key Words 112
Thinking Geographically 112
RichLegg/E+/Getty Images

Chapter 5

Population Geography 113

5.1 Population Growth 114
5.2 Population Definitions 116
Birth Rates 116
Fertility Rates 117
Death Rates 120
Population Pyramids 122
Natural Increase and Doubling Times 125
5.3 The Demographic Transition 127
The Western Experience 129
A Divided World, a Converging World 130
Geography & Public Policy: International Population Policies 132
5.4 The Demographic Equation 133
Population Relocation 133
Immigration Impacts 133
5.5 World Population Distribution 134
Population Density 136
Overpopulation? 136
5.6 Population Data and Projections 138
Population Data 138
Population Projections 138
5.7 Population Controls 139
5.8 Population Prospects 140
Population Implosion? 140
Momentum 141
Aging 141
Summary of Key Concepts 142
Key Words 143
Thinking Geographically 143
 page vii

Ruslan Kalnitsky/Shutterstock

Chapter 6

Cultural Geography 144

6.1 Components of Culture 145
6.2 Subsystems of Culture 147
The Technological Subsystem 147
The Sociological Subsystem 148
The Ideological Subsystem 150
6.3 Interaction of People and Environment 152
Environments as Controls 152
Human Impacts 152
6.4 Culture Change 153
Innovation 153
Diffusion 155
Acculturation 156
6.5 Cultural Diversity 157
6.6 Language 158
Language Spread and Change 160
Standard and Variant Languages 162
Language and Culture 165
6.7 Religion 167
Classification and Distribution of Religions 167
Geography & Public Policy: Changing Place Names 170
The Principal Religions 171
6.8 Ethnicity 179
6.9 Gender and Culture 181
6.10 Other Aspects of Diversity 184
Summary of Key Concepts 184
Key Words 185
Thinking Geographically 185

FloridaStock/Shutterstock

Chapter 7

Human Interaction 186

7.1 The Definition of Human Interaction 187
7.2 Distance and Human Interaction 188
7.3 Barriers to Interaction 189
7.4 Human Interaction and Innovation 191
7.5 Individual Activity Space 191
Stage in Life 192
Mobility 192
Opportunities 193
7.6 Diffusion and Innovation 193
Medical Geography and Diffusion: COVID-19 193
Contagious Diffusion 194
Hierarchical Diffusion 195
7.7 Human Interaction and Technology 196
Automobiles 196
Telecommunications 197
7.8 Migration 198
Types of Migration 198
Incentives to Migrate 200
Geography & Public Policy: Broken Borders 205
Barriers to Migration 206
Patterns of Migration 207
7.9 Globalization, Integration, and Interaction 209
Economic Integration 209
Political Integration 210
Cultural Integration 210
Summary of Key Concepts 212
Key Words 212
Thinking Geographically 213

dbimages/Alamy Stock Photo

Chapter 8

Political Geography 214

8.1 National Political Systems 216
Evolution of the Modern State 216
Nations and Nation-States 216
Boundaries: The Limits of the State 219
Centripetal Forces: Promoting State Cohesion 224
Centrifugal Forces: Challenges to State Authority 228
8.2 Cooperation Among States 232
Supranationalism 232
The United Nations and Its Agencies 232
Regional Alliances 235
8.3 Local and Regional Political Organization 238
Forms of State Organization 238
Special Types of Regions 240
Electoral Systems 241
The Districting Problem 241
The Fragmentation of Political Power 242

page viii
Summary of Key Concepts 244
Key Words 244
Thinking Geographically 244
Echo/Getty Images

Chapter 9

Economic Geography: Agriculture and Primary

Activities 245
9.1 The Classification of Economic Activity and Economies 246
Categories of Activity 246
Types of Economic Systems 248
Stages of Development 249
9.2 Primary Activities: Agriculture 252
Subsistence Agriculture 253
Expanding Crop Production 256
Commercial Agriculture 258
9.3 Other Primary Activities 263
Fishing 264
Forestry 266
Mining and Quarrying 266
9.4 Trade in Primary Products 267
Geography & Public Policy: Public Land, Private Profit 268
Summary of Key Concepts 270
Key Words 270
Thinking Geographically 270

Ben Curtis/AP Images

Chapter 10
Economic Geography: Manufacturing and Services 271
10.1 World Manufacturing Patterns and Trends 272
10.2 Industrial Location Theory 273
Weber’s Least-Cost Industrial Location Model 274
Other Locational Considerations 276
10.3 Innovation in Manufacturing Processes and Products 278
Flexible Production Processes 278
Geography & Public Policy: Incentives or Bribery? 279
High Technology Products 280
Factors in High Technology 280
10.4 Outsourcing and Transnational Corporations 283
10.5 Service Activities 284
Types of Service Activities 286
Consumer Services 287
Business Services 288
Summary of Key Concepts 292
Key Words 292
Thinking Geographically 292

Jan Hanus/Alamy Stock Photo

Chapter 11

An Urban World 293

11.1 An Urbanizing World 295
11.2 Origins and Evolution of Cities 297
Defining the City Today 298
The Location of Urban Settlements 299
11.3 Functions of Cities 300
Cities as Central Places 300
Cities as Centers of Production and Services 301
Cities as Centers of Administration and Institutions 304
11.4 Systems of Cities 304
 The Urban Hierarchy 304
Rank-Size Relationships 305
World Cities 305
11.5 Inside the City 306
Classic Patterns of Land Use 306
Institutional Controls 308
Social Areas of Cities 308
Changes in Urban Form 309
Geography & Public Policy: The Homeless 316
11.6 Global Urban Diversity 320
Western European Cities 320
Eastern European Cities 321
Rapidly Growing Cities in the Developing World 323
Summary of Key Concepts 326
Key Words 327
Thinking Geographically 327

page ix

Michael Interisano/Design Pics/Getty Images

Chapter 12

The Geography of Natural Resources 328

12.1 Resource Terminology 330
Renewable Resources 330
Nonrenewable Resources 330
Resource Reserves 331
12.2 Energy Resources and Industrialization 331
12.3 Nonrenewable Energy Resources 332
Crude Oil 332
Coal 335
Natural Gas 336
 Geography & Public Policy: Fuel-Efficient and Electric Vehicles 337
Oil Shale and Oil Sands 340
Nuclear Energy 341
12.4 Renewable Energy Resources 343
Biomass Fuels 343
Hydropower 344
Solar Energy 346
Geography & Public Policy: Dammed Trouble 347
Other Renewable Energy Resources 348
12.5 Nonfuel Mineral Resources 351
The Distribution of Nonfuel Minerals 352
Copper: A Case Study 353
12.6 Land Resources 354
Soils 354
Wetlands 357
Forest Resources 359
12.7 Resource Management 365
Summary of Key Concepts 366
Key Words 367
Thinking Geographically 367

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Grégoire Tarnopol, 1979, and Gift of Alexander Tarnopol,
1980.

Chapter 13

Human Impact on the Environment 368

13.1 Ecosystems 370
13.2 Impacts on Water 371
Availability of Water 371
Modification of Streams 374
Water Quality 374
 Agricultural Sources of Water Pollution 375
Other Sources of Water Pollution 378
Controlling Water Pollution 380
13.3 Impacts on Air 381
Air Pollutants 381
Factors Affecting Air Pollution 382
Acid Rain 383
Photochemical Smog 384
Depletion of the Ozone Layer 386
Controlling Air Pollution 386
13.4 Impacts on Landforms 388
Excavation 388
Dumping 390
Subsidence 390
13.5 Impacts on Plants and Animals 391
Habitat Loss or Alteration 391
Hunting and Commercial Exploitation 392
Introduction of Exotic Species 393
Bioaccumulation of Toxins 395
Preserving Biodiversity 396
13.6 Waste Management 397
Municipal Waste 397
Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes 401
Geography & Public Policy: Yucca Mountain 402
13.7 Environmental Justice 403
Summary of Key Concepts 405
Key Words 406
Thinking Geographically 406

Appendices A-1
Glossary G-1
Index I-1
 page x

PREFACE

Imagine designing a single university course to help students understand

the world in which they live and prepare them to engage its most pressing
issues. We are convinced that the introductory geography course for
which this book was written would make an excellent approach. While
many institutions offer separate introductory courses for human
geography and physical geography, this text attempts to convey both the
breadth and unity of academic geography. Students will learn where
things are located in relationship to each other and develop a basic
understanding of the physical systems that create landforms, weather,
and climate. This will enable them to contribute to wise policy decisions
regarding challenges of natural hazards and climate change. Students will
gain an understanding of human systems, patterns of settlement, the
distribution of different languages and religions, the spatial organization
of the global economy, the location of natural resources, and the
significance of boundaries in the political organization of territory. This
knowledge provides a foundation for engaging contemporary issues as
diverse as international migration, city planning, terrorism, globalization,
international institutions, and electoral district gerrymandering. Finally,
the text also provides a framework for understanding and responding to
the negative consequences human activities have had on the integrity of
physical systems of soils, water, air, and vegetation.

Approach
Our purpose is to convey concisely and clearly the nature of the field of geography, its
intellectual challenges, and the logical interconnections of its parts. Even if students take no
further work in geography, we are satisfied that they will have come into contact with the
richness and breadth of our discipline and have at their command new insights and
understandings for their present and future roles as informed adults. Other students may
pursue further work in geography. For them, this text introduces the content and scope of the
subfields of geography and provides the foundation for further work in their areas of interest.
A useful textbook must be flexible enough in its organization to permit
an instructor to adapt it to the time and subject matter constraints of a
particular course. Although designed with a one-quarter or one-semester
course in mind, this text may be used in a full-year introduction to
geography when employed as a point of departure for special topics and
amplifications introduced by the instructor or when supplemented by
additional readings and class projects.
Moreover, the chapters are reasonably self-contained and need not be
assigned in the sequence presented here. The chapters may be
rearranged to suit the emphases and sequences preferred by the
instructor or found to be of greatest interest to the students. The format
of the course should properly reflect the joint contribution of instructor
and book, rather than be dictated by the book alone.

New to this Edition

Although we have retained the organizational structure introduced in previous editions of this
book, we have revised, added, and deleted material for a variety of reasons.
• Current events and new technologies mandate an updating of facts and
analyses and may suggest discussion of additional topics. Examples include
new chapter opening vignettes on the COVID-19 global pandemic and on
an accidental military invasion due to a digital map error.
• In every new edition, changes in both demographic parameters and the
populations of countries and major urban areas require updating. Maps and
tables depicting demographic variables and the populations of the world’s
largest countries and metropolitan regions were updated based on the most
recent data available from the United Nations and Population Reference
Bureau in 2019.
• Every table and figure in the book has been reviewed for accuracy and
currency and has been replaced, updated, or otherwise revised where
necessary.
• The addition of a political geographer to the author team led to increased
depth of coverage and reorganization of existing material in the chapter on
political geography.
• As always, we rely on reviewers of the previous edition to offer suggestions
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 Lucrezia. Madonna Adriana brought me here;
She stays without: I go back to the convent.
Cesare—;tell me all that I should pray.

Cesare [turning his head back towards her from

the couch]. Amanda, that your scruples be removed.
That I be Cesar.

Lucrezia. Take a little rest.

Cesare. Shall you, from prayer?

To-night you look a sibyl.
Who did this deed?

Lucrezia. Let Juan play the lute;

You must have music through these restless nights.
How lost you look!

Cesare. You startled me. How lost!

[He closes his eyes.
Lucrezia. He is dreaming; he has quite forgotten me.
Come, Adriana, soft! As an astronomer
He must not be disturbed: he is quite lost.

One leaves Borgia reluctantly, having done so much less than justice to
it: nevertheless, it is refreshing to turn to Deirdre after an atmosphere so
charged and tropical. Not that Deirdre is set on any lower plane of emotion,
for it also deals with vast passions. But in this play we pass visibly to a
more northerly latitude, to an austerer race and a more primitive age; and it
is in an air swept clean by storm that the business of sowing the wind and
reaping the whirlwind goes forward.
Michael Field has made a noble rendering of this old Irish story which,
its subject dating from the first century, suggests a cause no less remote
than that for the ancient feud between Ulster and the rest of Ireland. The
story is well known: the birth of Deirdre and the prophecies of doom to
Ulster through her; the defiance of the doom by Conchobar the king, and
the fostering of Deirdre to be his wife; the carrying off of Deirdre on the
eve of her wedding by Naisi and their flight to Alba; the invitation to Naisi
and his brothers to return under Conchobar’s promise of forgiveness; and
the treacherous assassination of them upon their arrival. There are many
variants of the legend; and our poet has chosen the oldest of them all, that
preserved in the Book of Leinster, for the chief events of her drama. She
was compelled to alter the story at one point, for it would hardly have been
convenient to represent the Sons of Usnach slain, all three at one stroke, by
the magic sword. But in varying the manner of their death she was enabled
to adopt another form of the legend, in which Naisi and his two brothers
were overcome by a Druid’s enchantment, and, believing themselves to be
drowning, dropped their weapons and were immediately overpowered by
Conchobar’s men. There was, however, a difficulty here too; for whereas
three heads lopped off at one blow was a little too dynamic even for the
purposes of drama, an unseen spell of wizardry was altogether too static;
and the poet therefore contrived a scene in which Naisi’s comrades are
actually drowned, and he, left alone to protect Deirdre, is slain by Eogan.
Another modification, with less warrant from the documents, perhaps,
but of even greater interest, is that which introduces into this primitive
world the first gleam of Christianity. The fact might suggest that the Deirdre
play was written after the poets’ conversion, did one not know that they
were at work on the theme some time before. But it is extremely probable
that the passage in which the wise woman Lebarcham tries to turn
Conchobar from brooding on vengeance by the tale of a new god who
refused to avenge himself on his enemies was inserted after the first draft of
the play was made. It is written in prose, and, placed at the beginning of Act
III, hardly affects the subsequent action. From that point of view it might be
considered superfluous; but Michael, though not Henry, was capable of so
much over-zeal. She was, however, also capable of justifying her act
artistically. The interpolation is at least not an anachronism. It is possible,
there in Ireland, that even so early had penetrated “the story of how a god
met his death ... young, radiant ... bearing summer in his hands.” But it
might have been a menace to the unity of the drama: it might have
destroyed the satisfying wholeness which, in whatever form one finds it, the
pagan story possesses. Michael Field avoided that calamity. She threw her
glimmer of Christian light across the scene in such a way that it reveals
more strongly by contrast the dark elements of which the story is composed.
By it one instinctively measures the barbarity of the age out of which the
story came, and realizes its antiquity. The poet does not allow it to influence
action, for that would weaken the tragedy; but she uses the occasion to
humanize and make credible that which, in the Conchobar of the records,
seems almost monstrous. In those ancient tales Conchobar plans his
vengeance on Naisi and his brothers with a coldness that is diabolic and a
precision almost mechanical. He provides for his own safety, too, with
comical caution, carefully sounding one after another of his knights until he
finds one who does not immediately threaten to kill him for suggesting such
a dastardly deed as the murder of the Sons of Usnach. Yet, as our poet has
re-created Conchobar, he is a human soul driven this way and that in a
running fight with passion; pitiable in his hopeless love for Deirdre,
comprehensible in his wrath against Naisi, sinister and terrifying in his
revenge. And underneath the overt drama lies a profounder irony; for while
he is plotting in his heart the enormous treachery, Lebarcham tells of the
young god who was betrayed by his friends, and he says:
Hush, woman, for my heart is broken. Would I had been there, I who can
deal division between hosts. I would have set the Bound One free. If I could
avenge him!
The play is written in five acts and a prologue; but is not divided into
scenes. Its form is for the most part blank verse—;the iambic pentameter of
Michael Field which is so often neither iambic nor a pentameter. Her verse
is, indeed, a very variable line, changing its unit as frequently as will
consist with a regular form; and as flexible, sinewy, and nervous as will
consist with dignity, grace, and splendid colour. Prose passages occur in
Acts III and V; and a form of lyrical rhapsody is used to express the Druid
prophecies and Deirdre’s lament. The use of lyrics in her drama was not
new to Michael Field, who from the beginning could always relieve the
strain of intense emotion by a graceful song. But in this case she is
following, with her accustomed fidelity, lines laid down in older renderings
of the legend.
The most notable feature of this play is its ending. No author of the more
important modern versions of this theme has dared to take his conclusion
from the oldest one of all. Usually he has preferred the variant which tells
of Deirdre, broken-hearted at Naisi’s murder, falling dead into his grave.
This is, of course, in some respects a more ‘poetic’ passing: it lends itself to
romantic treatment, and its tragedy is more immediate and final. Moreover,
from the dramaturgic point of view the action is easier to handle and more
certain of its effect. Michael Field was not, however, attracted by mere
facility. Truth drew her with a stronger lure, and to her the more ancient
story would make a claim deeper than loyalty. For she would see Deirdre’s
survival not only as a more probable thing, but as something more
profoundly tragic; and the manner of her death, when it came, as more
clearly of a piece with the old saga and essentially of Deirdre’s wilful and
resolute character.
Deirdre is no Helen, though her legend has features so similar. The mere
outline of her which the old story gives indicates a creature who will
compel destiny rather than suffer it; and our poet has but completed,
imaginatively, what the original suggests—;a girl whose instinct of chastity
drives her away from marriage without love; whose ardour and courage
claim her proper mate; whose fidelity keeps her unalterably true; and whose
head is at least as sound as her heart is tender. For although she is a rather
tearful creature, she is also very astute; and Naisi need not have died quite
so young if he had only listened to her warning and condescended to take
her advice. Deirdre is, in short, of her race and of her time as surely as
Lucrezia Borgia is a daughter of Pope Alexander VI and a child of the
Italian Renaissance. Michael Field’s range in the creation of women
characters is very wide, and the verisimilitude with which she presents
natures so alien from herself as the courtesan and the voluptuary might be
astonishing if one thought of her simply as a Victorian lady, and not as a
great creative artist. Nevertheless, in the re-creation of Deirdre one feels
that she must have taken an especial joy, as witness the opening passage of
Act I, where Lebarcham and Medv the nurse are discussing their fosterling.
It is the morning of her sixteenth birthday, and King Conchobar is coming
to the little secluded house where Deirdre has been brought up to claim her
as his bride:

Medv. But look at her!

Lebarcham. Ay, Medv, it is not for our eyes to look.

The beauty!

Medv. She is dreaming.

Lebarcham. She sees true;

 Lebarcham. She sees true;
Therefore she is no poet. Gentle Medv,
My sister with the mother-eyes that rest
But when they rest on her, she is not ours,
Nor fate’s, nor any man’s; for she will choose,
Close prisoner as she is, her destiny,
Choose for herself the havoc she will make,
The tears that she will draw from other eyes,
The tears that will burn through her, the delights
That she will ravish from the world. She knows
So definitely all she wants: such souls
Attain. She is not dreaming; look at her!

Medv. She does not sigh as other maids kept close;

She is soft as a wood-pigeon, but no crooning—;
And when I speak of love—;King Conchobar
To be her lord—;she laughs.

Lebarcham. A wanton laugh!

Medv. No, no! Dear heart, she has no wantonness;

And yet I am afraid to hear her laughter,
It is so low and sure. My maid, my maid!
What shall I do that bitter day the King
Tears her away from me?

Lebarcham. Be comforted.
She loves you, she will bless you all her years:
But if she hate—;I would not be the creature
To cross her path, not if I were the chieftain
Of Ulla, or of Alba, or the world.

Medv. She has no malice. Would you slander her?

Lebarcham. I praise her! She can hate as only those

Of highest race, without remorse, for ever.

Again, in the same first act, when Deirdre has prevailed on Lebarcham
to bring Naisi to the hut, and the two have spoken of their love, it is she
who at once perceives where that confession must lead. Naisi would rather
kiss and part than rob the mighty Conchobar of his bride. But for Deirdre,
having kissed, there shall be no parting:

Deirdre. But we shall never part again, O Naisi,

Bear me away with you. I cannot speak,
Not much, not anything to listen to,
Yet I shall lie awake at night to ease
The pain it is to think of you by thinking
More constantly each moment. Bear me with you
To Alba, to the loveable, soft land.
[Naisi pauses stupefied: then turns away.
Naisi. But he has waited
For sixteen years; I am his chosen knight:
At dance, at feasting never has he turned
His eyes on woman, or if idly turned
An instant, he was back with Lebarcham
Asking of thee, thy years.
Where are you stepping?
Your feet are towards the waves.

Deirdre. For I shall travel

Either across this narrow sea with you,
Or else alone with the currents and the creatures
That travel fleet and silent underneath.

Naisi. O vehement, mad girl, it is for freedom

That you would draw this ruin on us all,
On the great King my Overlord, on Erin.
It is not well.
Women are ever captive
In their spirits and their bodies: so the gods
Have fashioned it and there is no escape.

Deirdre. You will not give me love?

Naisi. Your liberty

I shall not give you, if I give you love.
 Love is the hardest bondage in the world.
I would not put such chains on any woman
To love me....

Deirdre. Let me be with you, the name

Of being with you call it what you will—;
Bondage or freedom, I should still be happy,
Yea, for a year, yea, for a brood of years.

It is, however, in the last act that Michael Field again triumphantly
proves her mettle as poet and dramatist. She had stubborn material here,
harsh and crude stuff which kept the poets long at bay. For Deirdre’s end as
related by the old bard is a bit of primitive savagery matched in terms of the
plainest realism. Conchobar, after Naisi is enticed back to Ulster and
murdered, takes possession of Deirdre; and she remains in his house for a
year. But her constant reproaches and lamentation weary him; and at last, in
order to subdue her, he threatens to lend her for a year to the man she hates
most, Eogan, the slayer of Naisi. She is thereupon driven off in Eogan’s
chariot, apparently subdued, seated in shame between him and Conchobar.
At a gross taunt from Conchobar, however, she springs up, and flings
herself out upon the ground. “There was a large rock near: she hurled her
head at the stone so that she broke her skull, and killed herself.”
Our poet does not try to make this pretty or pleasing: and at one point at
least she uses the exact terminology of the translation from which she
worked. Its brutal elements are not disguised: Deirdre’s humiliation and the
animal rage of Conchobar and Eogan remain hideous even after the poet,
accepting all the material, has wrought it into a tragedy of consummate
beauty. Its beauty has, indeed, more terror than pity in it—;it is brimmed
with life’s actual bitterness—;but the depth and power of this Deirdre are
not equalled by any other.
In quoting the closing passage of the play one does not afflict the reader
by a comment on it; but there is a technical point which should be noticed.
It is the device of the Messenger by which the poet avoids the
representation of Deirdre’s death. The manner of that death was not only
too awkward to present, but its horror as a spectacle was too great for
artistic control. In causing it to be related by the charioteer Fergna, the poet
has, in classic fashion, removed it from actual vision, but has enabled the
mind to contemplate what the eyes could not have borne to look upon.
The chariot has driven off with Deirdre, Eogan, and Conchobar; and
Lebarcham watches it till it passes out of sight beyond the mound that
marks Naisi’s grave. Then she turns away, lamenting; and suddenly Fergna,
the charioteer, re-enters, scared and breathless:

Lebarcham. Speak, Fergna! Are they dead?

Fergna. I scarce may say.

The woman’s shoulders panted on the rocks,
And over her a struggle fiercely raged
Of Conchobar with Eogan.

Lebarcham. Fosterling,
My Deirdre! Had they cast her from the car,
That thus she lay on the sharp rocks of stone?

Fergna. None touched her. She had gazed on yonder mound,

Setting her eyes on it, while car and horses
Moved on, until the little crests at last
Rose over it; then she awoke and swept
One fierce glance over Eogan, set before,
And slid one glance as fierce toward Conchobar,
Behind her and more close! It was one hatred,
The hatred of each glance. A shudder ran
All through my body: and through all the air
Ran laughter.

Lebarcham. Hers?—;her laughter?

Fergna. No, the king’s.

And then his words, the words of jest that followed!
“Deirdre, the glance a ewe
Would cast between two rams you cast on us,
Eogan and me.”
She started, and the horses
Started beneath my hand. I tightened rein,
And the whole chariot shivered as she leapt
Upon the rocks before her. Then those two
Sprung to the place where she was dashed, their breath
Whistled like winds: their crossing swords, with gnash
Of hungry teeth, affrighted me. I fled,
Leaving behind the chariot stopped by trees,
Rock-rooted....
He returns—;
The king! He leads the horses of his car
Slowly along. They come, but yet as night
Comes by long twilight.

Lebarcham. Lonely Conchobar!

[Re-enter Conchobar solemnly leading
the chariot.
O king....

Conchobar. Your horses, Fergna! Take the reins;

Lead them....

Fergna. My lord, forgive me. I will lead them

Back to their stable.

Lebarcham. Deirdre? Where is Eogan?

And Deirdre—;where?

Conchobar [with a hoarse laugh]. Ho, they have passed the borders,
Passed from my realm.
Nay, Fergna,
Lead the great car, checking the horses’ heads
Beside yon barrow of a hero: there
Unyoke them. Dig a neighbour sepulchre.
And let the bases of each monument
Touch where they spring.

Fergna. My lord ... and shall I seek

Among the rocks?

Conchobar You shall but lift its burthen

 Conchobar. You shall but lift its burthen
Forth of the chariot to the hollowed grave.

Lebarcham. O Deirdre! She is hidden by that cloak.

O shattered loveliness of Erin, hidden
From the ages, evermore! Thy Lebarcham,
Who saw thee come from hiding to our light,
Will go with thee along
To thy last screening cover, to thy tomb.
[Exit, following the chariot led by Fergna.
Conchobar. The land!... I wended hither: car and horses
Are wending from me. Did I move like that,
So solitary, dark above the grass?—;But
to no goal. In one of those near graves
She will be with him, one of them will open;
There can but be one tomb. The chariot lingers
Its way in happy sloth: so wheat is carried
Till night-fall to the barn....
[He remains watching in the silence.
The car
Has turned the cromlech....
So wheat is carried.

* * *
In concluding this very brief survey of Michael Field’s life and poetry,
one turns back with a sense of illumination to her sonnet called The Poet,
which has been already quoted. For therein Michael Field has indicated the
nature of her own genius and the conditions of its activity. She was not
thinking of herself, of course, but of the poetic nature in the abstract, when
she declared in the first two lines of the sestet that the poet is

a work of some strange passion

Life has conceived apart from Time’s harsh drill.

Those verses apply in some degree to the whole race of poets, which is,
indeed, the test of their truth. Yet it is significant that in choosing precisely
that form of expression for the truth, Michael Field has inadvertently stated
the essential meaning of her own life, of her long service to literature, and
of the peculiar greatness and possible limitation of her poetry.
“A work of some strange passion.” Strange, indeed, and in many ways.
For, first, it is no common thing to find, in a world preoccupied with traffic
and ambition, two souls completely innocent of both. Not small souls, nor
stupid nor ignorant ones—;as clever people might aver in order to account
for the phenomenon—;but of full stature, intelligent, level-headed, and with
their sober measure of English common sense. They knew themselves, too
—;were aware that they possessed genius, that they had first-rate minds and
were artists of great accomplishment. Moreover, for the larger part of their
life they were on terms with ‘the world’; they welcomed experience as few
Victorian women dared, gathered knowledge eagerly wherever it was to be
found, and had business ability sufficient to direct prudently their own
affairs.
They would have denied that there was anything of the fanatic or the
visionary in the dedication of themselves to their art, believing fanaticism to
be incongruous with the undiluted English strain of which they boasted.
And, indeed, there is something typical of the race in this deliberate setting
of a course and dogged persistence in it. Yet there is hardly an English
precedent for their career; and it is to France one must look—;to the
Goncourts or to Erckmann-Chatrian—;to match the long collaboration, or
to find similar examples of their artistic method. And not even there, so far
as I know, will be found another such case of disinterested service.
But the lines we have noted have an application to the work as well as to
the life of Michael Field. They may be used almost literally, to summarize
in a convenient definition the nature of her poetry. For in this body of work
one sees passion as an almost over-powering element, and it is of surprising
strangeness. However fully one may recognize the truth that there is no sex
in genius, I suppose that we shall always be startled at the appearance of an
Emily Brontë or a Michael Field. They seem such slight instruments for the
primeval music that the earth-mother plays upon them. And their
vehemence mingles so oddly with tenderer and more delicate strains that it
will always be possible for a reviewer to sneer at what is “to the Greeks
foolishness”—;he having no perception of the fact that in gentleness added
to strength a larger humanity is expressed. Such an eye as Meredith’s could
perceive that, and, catching sight of some reviewing stupidity about it,
would flash lightnings of wrath in that direction, and send indignant
sympathy to the poets.
There is strangeness, too, of another kind in the passion which was the
impulse of this poetry. Under the restraint that art has put upon it, it is, as
we have seen, an elemental thing. It is a creative force akin to that of Emily
Brontë or of Byron, and is tamer than their wild genius only in appearance.
Its more ordered manner grew from two causes: that one of the
collaborators blessedly possessed a sense of form, and that both of them
lived withdrawn from the brawl of life. They were placed, perhaps, a little
too far from “Time’s harsh drill.” Their lives were, on the whole, easier and
happier ones than are given to most people. That is why the loss of their
Chow dog caused them a grief which seems exaggerated to minds not so
sensitively tuned as theirs. Until the agony of the last three years overtook
them, their share of the common lot of sorrow had been the barest
minimum: adversity did not so much as look their way: poverty laid no
finger on them, and was but vaguely apprehended, in the distance, as
something pitiful for its ugliness. Therefore, secure and leisured, they
envisaged life, in the main, through art, through philosophy, through
literature, and hardly ever through the raw stuff of life itself. And thence
comes the peculiar character which the passion of their poetry acquired, as
of some fierce creature caught and bound in golden chains.
It may be that this seclusion from life will be felt in Michael Field’s
poetry as a limitation; that the final conviction imposed upon the mind by
the authority of experience is wanting; and that the work lacks a certain dry
wisdom of which difficult living is a necessary condition. It may be so; but
I do not think the stricture a valid charge against their work, first because of
our poets’ great gift of imagination, and second because they chose so
rightly their artistic medium. Comedy may require the discipline of
experience, the observing eye constantly fixed upon the object, and a rich
knowledge of the world; but surely tragedy requires before everything else
creative imagination, sympathy, and a certain greatness of heart and mind.
Those gifts Michael Field possessed in very large degree; so large that one
often stands in amazement before the protagonists of her drama,
demanding, in the name of all things wonderful, how two Victorian women
“ever came to think of that.” A Renaissance pope, a Saxon peasant, or a
priest of Dionysos—;decadent emperors, austere Roman patriots, or a
Frankish king turned monk—;those are only a few of the surprising
creatures of her imagination, conceived not as historical figures merely, but
as living souls. And by the range of her women characters—;from the
dignity of a Julia Domna to the wild-rose sweetness of a Rosamund; from
the Scottish Mary, with her rich capacity for loving, to the fierce chastity of
an Irish Deirdre, or the soul of goodness in a courtesan; from the subtlety of
a Lucrezia Borgia to the proud singleness of a Mariamne; from the virago-
venom of an Elinor to the sensitive simplicity of a country-girl, or the
wrong-headedness of a little princess whose instincts have been perverted
by frustration—;Michael Field has greatly enriched the world’s knowledge
of womanhood.
She did not set out to do that, of course. Her sanity is evident once more
in the moderation with which she held her feminist sympathies, despite the
clamour of the time and the provocation she received from masculine
mishandling of her work. Herein too she had removed herself from “Time’s
harsh drill,” having too great a reverence for her art to use it for the
purposes of propaganda. That fact leads us again to her sonnet and the light
it throws upon herself. For in studying her work one sees that she fulfilled
completely her own conception of the poet—;as an artist withdrawn from
the common struggle to wrestle with a fiercer power, and subdue it to a
shape of recognizable beauty.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Of the works of Michael Field, published to 1919

The New Minnesinger. (Arran Leigh.) Longmans, Green and Co.

1875.
Bellerophôn. (Arran and Isla Leigh.) C. Kegan Paul. 1881.
Callirrhoë, and Fair Rosamund. J. Baker and Son. First edition
in spring of 1884; second edition in autumn of 1884.
The Father’s Tragedy, William Rufus, and Loyalty or Love. J.
Baker and Son. 1885.
Brutus Ultor. J. Baker and Son. 1886.
Canute the Great and The Cup of Water. J. Baker and Son. 1887.
Long Ago. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. 1889.
The Tragic Mary. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. 1890.
Stephania. Elkin Mathews and John Lane. 1892.
Sight and Song. Elkin Mathews and John Lane. 1892.
A Question of Memory. Elkin Mathews and John Lane. 1893.
Underneath the Bough. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. First edition in
spring of 1893; second edition in autumn of 1893; third edition,
published by T. B. Mosher, Portland, Maine, 1898.
Attila, my Attila! Elkin Mathews. 1896.
Fair Rosamund. Reissued from the Vale Press. Decorated by
Charles Ricketts. 1897.
The World at Auction. The Vale Press. Decorated by Charles
Ricketts. 1898.
Anna Ruina. David Nutt. 1899.
Noontide Branches. The Daniel Press. 1899.
The Race of Leaves. The Vale Press. Decorated by Charles
Ricketts. 1901.
Julia Domna. The Vale Press. Decorated by Charles Ricketts.
1903
Borgia. (Anonymous.) A. H. Bullen. 1905.
Queen Mariamne. (Anonymous.) Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd.
1908.
Wild Honey. T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd. 1908.
The Tragedy of Pardon, and Diane. (Anonymous.) Sidgwick and
Jackson, Ltd. 1911.
The Accuser, Tristan de Leonois, and A Messiah. (Anonymous.)
Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd. 1911.
Poems of Adoration. Sands and Co. 1912.
Mystic Trees. Eveleigh Nash. 1913.
Whym Chow. Privately printed at the Eragny Press. 1914.
Dedicated. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. 1914.
Deirdre, A Question of Memory, and Ras Byzance. The Poetry
Bookshop. 1918.
In the Name of Time. The Poetry Bookshop. 1919.
Note.—;The volumes containing Borgia, Queen Mariamne, The
Tragedy of Pardon, and The Accuser are now controlled by the
Poetry Bookshop.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHAEL
FIELD ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions

will be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S.

copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright
in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and
distribute it in the United States without permission and without
paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General
Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and
distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if
you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the
trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the
Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such
as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and
printed and given away—you may do practically ANYTHING in
the United States with eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright
law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially
commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
 PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the

free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this
work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase
“Project Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of
the Full Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or
online at www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and

Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand,
agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual
property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to
abide by all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using
and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for
obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg™
electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the terms
of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only

be used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by
people who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.
There are a few things that you can do with most Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works even without complying with the
full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There
are a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg™
electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement and
help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright
law in the United States and you are located in the United
States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying,
distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works
based on the work as long as all references to Project
Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope that you will
support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting free
access to electronic works by freely sharing Project
Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of this
agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name
associated with the work. You can easily comply with the terms
of this agreement by keeping this work in the same format with
its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it
without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside
the United States, check the laws of your country in addition to
the terms of this agreement before downloading, copying,
displaying, performing, distributing or creating derivative works
based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The
Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright
status of any work in any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project

Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must
appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project
Gutenberg™ work (any work on which the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed,
viewed, copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United

States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it
away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg
License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United
States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is

derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to
anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges.
If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of
paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use
of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth
in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is

posted with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and
distribution must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through
1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed by the copyright holder.
Additional terms will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™
License for all works posted with the permission of the copyright
holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project

Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files
containing a part of this work or any other work associated with
Project Gutenberg™.