Poem-A-Day/April 13, 2020
Marianne Moore, "Poetry"
Friends,
Here is a link to the poem we'll discuss tomorrow, "Poetry" by Marianne Moore. Read the other materials I sent this weekend, and we can talk about some of Moore's extraordinary distinctions and definitions. "...imaginary gardens with real toads in them" is one of my favorite definitions of poetry. And the opening: "I, too, dislike it"--why make that stunning admission??
https://poets.org/poem/poetry
Marianne Moore, "Poetry"
Friends,
Here is a link to the poem we'll discuss tomorrow, "Poetry" by Marianne Moore. Read the other materials I sent this weekend, and we can talk about some of Moore's extraordinary distinctions and definitions. "...imaginary gardens with real toads in them" is one of my favorite definitions of poetry. And the opening: "I, too, dislike it"--why make that stunning admission??
https://poets.org/poem/poetry
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteI found the stunning admission at the outset of this poem to be fascinating, especially when she juxtaposes poetry against "all this fiddle" (26). The notion that poetry is akin to background noise, however melodic, was jarring to me, as I find poetry to be a transformative and not something that recedes into the background. She then doubles back on this comment, with "perfect contempt" (26) admitting that she feels pride in eliciting emotions from readers, especially those which manifest in a physical sense. These sensory responses are ultimately "useful," because our emotions often reach a threshold in which they are "so derivative as to become intelligible" (26). One of the most fascinating lines of the poem in my opinion is "we/do not admire what/we cannot understand..." I found this section to be moving because it raises the question as to why we worship an art that we cannot ever fully comprehend. The following image she cultivates of a circus is also a surprising one, specifically when it is contrasted against the "unmoving critic" (26). With these lines and her discussion of which phenomena are "important," I believe she is trying to raise the question of whether poetry is an observational art, as well as the significance it holds in broader society. Is it a spectacle, or is it to be accorded respect by critics and given the same attention as "'business documents'" (26). I believe her critique of over-analysis of poetry by ill-informed critics, or "half-poets" (27), is intriguing, as we cannot interject our own opinions into their imaginative realm. It is by reading their work that the "imaginary gardens with real toads in them" (27) become real for us; the images within poet's manufactured diction become tangible within our own minds. At the end of the poem, she concedes that poets must accept the realness and rawness of what is fictional, and that an interest in poetry is defined by the ability to seamlessly enter into this world and suspend one's beliefs. Defining our relationship to poetry is an interesting exercise in introspection, and I believe Moore expresses this so eloquently in "Poetry" (1924).
See you all tomorrow on Zoom! :)
Hello, all! I really appreciate the self-awareness prevalent throughout Marianne's poem... Not only is the fact that she criticizes poetry *within the framework of a poem* ironic; her self-critique also lends credibly to her poetry on the whole (at least in my view), as it means she is able to critically reflect on the nature of her work. While I enjoy perusing poetry, too often I find myself estranged from the allusions and witticisms poets tend to speckle throughout their pieces-- in short, reading poetry sometimes makes me feel quite ignorant (admittedly: I am!), and therefore I'm unable to fully connect with the poem at hand. While the ambiguous, mystery-laden quality of poetry is undoubtedly alluring -- sometimes it's fun to read what my small mind perceives as rather nonsensical -- I *do* wish accessible poetry was more celebrated in the modern age. Mary Oliver, who authored poems that described nature in frank yet beautiful prose, has faced criticism for the simplicity of her writing. Yet to me, her poems capture reality in a raw, striking manner; she didn't dress up her ideas in a pithy wordplay or convoluted references because she didn't need to.
ReplyDeleteReturning to the poem at hand (I concede I have veered slightly off track), I especially enjoy the line "all this fiddle." In my view, she seems to be referencing the performative nature of poems that take themselves too seriously, or perhaps the way an abundance of descriptive language attempts to capture base human emotion -- something that can't *truly* be summed up by words anyways, but must instead be felt. As her poem continues, however, she lauds genuine poetry (separating that from poems authored by "half poets") for its ability to echo truth and remind us of our own humanity.
Hi everyone! Similar to what others have already mentioned, I am also struck by how conscientious and raw this entire poem was. I applaud Moore for being so honest with herself and critiquing this form of art on which she builds her career, drafting herself as a more credible poet. I am particularly interested in the form of the poem and how it is used to support and further develop the ideas outlined throughout the progression of the poem. She uses enjambment in most, if not all, lines, allowing the poem to pick up momentum as she begins to lay out a series of images that allow us to better understand the experience of reading unclear poems. “Elephants pushing, a wild horse taking a roll, a tireless wolf under / a tree,” all are incredibly creative and ridiculous images. By associating this experience of reading bad poems with that of familiar animals, for example, engaging in this extremely abnormal behavior, Moore tries to shed poetry in a more casual and joyful light.
ReplyDeleteHowever, upon emphasizing what poems should not be, I once again return to my original point about the irregular form that this poem takes on. With asymmetrical line lengths, and enjambment, Moore almost defies what we view as conventional poetry – expected rhyme and meter. In what way is she able to allow us to discover poetry in its purest form and tell us what constitutes a bad poem when the form and structure of her own poem differs greatly from that of what we expect?
See you soon on Zoom!