Jeffers uses figures of speech like metaphor and symbolism to elevate the artistic effect of these lines. Those marks will not wear down even after their death. Jeffers refers to the stone-cutters as the “Challengers of oblivion.” It is because, through their stone works, they preserve their mark on earth. The first three lines of ‘To The Stone-Cutters’ set apart stone-cutters from the rest of society.

Stone-cutters fighting time with marble, you fore-defeated

In the end, Jeffers realizes that the sun, the earth, and people all will eventually die, yet stone and words live for thousands of years. In the last few lines, he talks about how the poets build their monuments “mockingly like the sculptor.” This line hints at the fact that words and stone live past mortal human beings and survive till eternity. The speaker is aware that those things do not leave a lasting mark in this world. In the following lines, the speaker describes how poets and stone-cutters get “cynical earnings” – money that is purely made for the sake of living.

It shows the integrity of the stone-cutters, who seek to leave a mark on the world. Their work requires long hours of patience and perseverance. In the beginning, the speaker describes how sculptors essentially fight with time to carve stone. In ‘To The Stone-Cutters,’ Robinson Jeffers talks about the timelessness of poetry and how it withstands the vagaries of time like stones.

Tor house robinson jeffers poem