Moore, Marianne. (1887 - 1972).
W o r k
- promoted the modernist poetry: re-established and edited the originally Transcendentalist magazine The Dial as an avant-garde magazine
< E. Dickinson: though Dickinson was established only in her own 20s
< English religious writers: grew up in strict Presbyterianism
- felt the tension between the religion x the multiplicity and aesthetic diversity of life
- concerned with the essence of poetry, and the relationship between poetry x reality
- characteristic by thematic simplicity (nature, animals, etc.) x but: formal precision
- concentrated on stanzas, paid attention to the visual side, and dismissed the rhymes
- applied the rules of imagism to the American experience x but: frequently used sarcasm (her “England” both celebrated x doubted America)
- introduced the ‘syllabic count’, based on the Roman languages: measured verse by the number of syllables in each line (not by stress or quantity), regardless whether stressed or unstressed
- frequently quoted => made her poems mosaics or collages of many pieces arranged to fit together
Poems (1924):
= her 1st collection of poems
- published without her knowledge or permission by H. D.
Observations (1921):
= a collection of poems including mostly reprints from the former
Poems of distinction: "Poetry", "The Mind Is an Enchanting Thing"
Quote
"In the meantime, if you demand on the one hand, / the raw material of poetry in / all its rawness and / that which is on the other hand / genuine, you are interested in poetry".
From "Poetry".
Basics
(Photo: Carl Van Vechten. 1948. Source: Wikipedia).
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Author
Marianne Moore. (1887 - 1972). American. -
Work
Poet. Advocate of syllabic verse. -
Genre
Modernism.
Literature
Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 1995.
Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. The Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Cunliffe, Marcus. The Literature of the United States. London: Penguin, 1991.
Lauter, Paul, ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.
McQuade, Donald, gen.ed. The Harper American Literature. New York: Harper & Collins, 1996.
Ruland, Richard, Malcolm Bradbury. Od puritanismu k postmodernismu. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997.
Vančura, Zdeněk, ed. Slovník spisovatelů: Spojené státy americké. Praha: Odeon, 1979.