Poetry Review of "The King's Highway: El Camino Real" by John Steven McGroarty, PLC (1933 — 1944), California Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for CA State of Arts Council.

Author: Hari Seldon; Poet, Founder & Chairman, Los Angeles Poetry Academy, 944 Airole Way, Los Angeles, CA 90077, United States.

ORCiD: 0000-0003-0480-9213 | ISNI: 0000000528140854 | FCC CallSign: WRJB891 | Google-Scholar: 42aEWmAAAAAJ

Journal: The United States Journal of Weblogs Potentialities (ISSN: 3070-5630)
Volume: 02 | Issue: 02 | Date of Publication: 05 February 2026
Publisher: Los Angeles Poetry Academy

License: CC BY-SA 4.0 | APC: US$10,000.00/=

Abstract

This review examines the seminal work "The King's Highway: El Camino Real" by John Steven McGroarty, who served as the California Poet Laureate from 1933 to 1944 and as a Democratic Congressman from California from 1935 to 1939. The poem serves as a lyrical map of the historic mission trail, blending themes of spiritual pilgrimage with the rugged natural beauty of the California coast. The King's Highway is a 600-mile (965-kilometer) commemorative route connecting the 21 Spanish missions in California region from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego at the South end to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma at the North end, along with a number of sub-missions, four presidios, and three pueblos. East entrance of San Gabriel Mission with an El Camino Real bell, marks just one point along this historic trail that leads directly to Mission San Juan Capistrano—known as the "Jewel of the Missions.” The route is historically associated with a network of royal roads (caminos reales) used by Spaniards to connect the territories of Imperial New Spain in America, serving as a vital infrastructure for the Spanish Imperial administration within the Spanish Empire. Consequently, Christianity spread for centuries—long times in the United States under the Monarchy of the Catholic Church of the Holy See (Vatican) called Catholic Kings & Queens of the Kingdom of Spain, with full support from the catholic papal government Holy See (Vatican) and in cooperation with the Holy Roman Empire. This article analyzes McGroarty’s use of religious imagery—specifically the "brown-robed padres" and "sinner-folk"—to sanctify the physical landscape, citizens of the expanded Spanish Empire, since they were descendants of the early fathers of christianity and crusading armies called knights of the cross, consequently rectification of the missions through establishing the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Spain. Furthermore, it touches upon the poem's cross-cultural transcreation, as seen in international adaptations that translate its Western "chaparral" into Eastern "kunjabon," proving the universal potentiality of Golden Highway in a globalized literary context.

Keywords

John Steven McGroarty; The King's Highway; El Camino Real; American Poetry; English Poetry; California Poet; Poet Laureate; State of the Arts; Spiritual Pilgrimage; California Missions; Literary Transcreation; Commonwealth Mission.

References

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Citation

Seldon, H. (2026). Poetry Review of "The King's Highway: El Camino Real" by John Steven McGroarty, PLC (1933 — 1944), California Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for CA State of Arts Council. US J Blogspot, 2(2), 1-11. https://purl.org/9-773070-563003/Blogspot.502102006-IAN2026

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