Selected poems

by Marianne Moore

A reissue of the 1935 Selected Poems, which, with an Introduction by T. S. Eliot, brought Moore's work to the attention of a wider public.

This beautifully designed edition forms part of a series of ten key titles celebrating Faber's publishing over the decades.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American Modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit.

Reviews

[Rosamund · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intellectual and sensual pleasure to read. Am I shallow in wishing for a little more emotion?

[Juan José · Rating 5 out of 5]

ella es perfecta
sus poemas son demasiado increibles

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moore's poetry in this volume was a bit too modern and unclear for my taste. She had some beautiful expressions and there were a handful of notable standout poems, but on the whole I didn't enjoy this volume as much as I expected based on what I'd read about her or from the sample of poems I had already read by her.

[Fergus Nm · Rating 4 out of 5]

At her best (generally those works that focus on zoological, geographical, or historical subjects) Moore is like no one else. Her rhythms and rhyme schemes (when present) are acrobatic, and her penchant for quotations (both direct and indirect) gives these poems a uniqueness even when compared to other infamous technicians of literary collage. This uniqueness becomes a hindrance on some of the weaker works though, where the stunning becomes baffling and the impressionistic becomes inscrutable. That being said, the highs are way up in the empyrean - my own personal favourites, works I find myself returning to frequently, are as follows:

Sea Unicorns and Land Unicorns
An Octopus
People's Surroundings
No Swan So Fine
Nine Nectarines and Other Porcelain
A Grave
Peter
The Jerboa

[Samuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of Marianne Moore's poems give her wonderful perspective of the world at the turn of the 20th century, held up by a range of zoological, botanical and cultural references that she hangs her thoughts on. Her poetry will make you feel like an anthropologist and enrichen your understanding of life during the early 1900's. Her clever use of structure and timing to make awkward rhymes not awkward and her ability to use metaphor to describe things indirectly is inspiring. She is a master of saying just enough.

Highlights: "Marriage", "The Fish", "To the Peacock of France" and "The Jerboa"

[Ahn Hundt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marianne Moore herself has said of her work that she does not feel the need to claim the term “poetry” for it, preferring to keep it abstract, simply labeled as “literature”. It does seem warranted for her to have questioned that idea, considering that what she does with words and her “poems” is unlike anything that I’ve ever read. While often being listed as one of the hardest poets to comprehend, partially because of the idiosyncratic phrasing, erratic use of rhyme and meter as well as her creativity concerning where a line is placed on the page structurally, Moore’s work also contains instantaneous imagery, beauty and thematic depth that few modernists of her time can match - and yet, at the same time, I can go through pages and not really understand a single thing she’s saying, which is so weird, considering that her poetry, half the time, seemingly doesn’t even consist of her own words half the time. Her work revolves a lot around nature, animals and delivering a mental visual to its reader, and similarly to how a colleague of hers, Ezra Pound, used heaps upon endless heaps of classic works to interpolate, include and reference in his poems, Mrs. Moore is an avid interpolator - only, in her case, she takes pieces of nature journalism, animal documentation and travellogues to include into her writing.

These interpolated pieces are sometimes entire sentences taken straight out of another piece of writing from somebody who wrote about whatever animal or place Moore frames her poems around. Often these two fuse - her most famous poems, especially in this collection, are often constructed around the idea of landscapes or cultures becoming a living image of an animal or vice versa - and with it, not only does she string together amazing series of words, but she also juxtaposes these with very abstract, complex and vague ideas regarding a variety of topics. Whether it is an approach at trying to understand what the “truth” of something is, or how mental processes work, as well as the concept of ideas themselves, it all becomes intellectually expanding and yet at the same time doesn’t fully come to a concrete or comprehensible conclusion in the end. This is the wayI feel about poets like Wallace Stevens or Federico García Lorca for example - writers who, in order to reach somewhat of an understanding of the incomprehensible universe, became themselves not entirely graspable in the process.

All this is to say that Moore is simultaneously a new favorite of mine, and yet at the same time, I don’t feel like I have a true idea of what her poetry is. That is a good thing, I’d assume, but at the same time, I can’t say that I enjoyed this collection as much as some others that I have given a perfect rating to. I feel like I will come to more of a connection with her over time with growing familiarity, but as I feel right now, I am more intrigued and confused than entirely in love - though there are moments where I was completely blown away as well, so who knows.

[Michael P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is, perhaps, to my shame that I do not like this book. Moore is such an esteemed poet that I realized I must fully engage with her instead of hiding behind "I don't like the poems seen in anthologies, so I'll avoid her work." Moore is too highly regarded to leave it at that. I assume that she is as great as most readers think, but very little in her first collection connected with me. I kind of like her long (I'll call them) haiku, dozens of lines describing something small. I am far less happy when the first portion of a poem seems to be about one thing then it turns and ends with a different subject, seemingly, at any rate. I assume I am not yet a sensitive enough reader to see her greatness in this book. I hope it is the problem.

[theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

theres nothing quite like it out there — moore has a certain sensibility (that can be mistaken for coldness, emotionlessness) in her wild(er)ness. her landscapes are lush, teeming with life, and she flits from subject to subject so deftly that u barely notice the change until u end up completely lost. her treatment of syllabic verse is v interesting as well, considering that it originated in french (?) verse and is basically an import in the english language. most poets avoid it and stick to accentual verse instead bc the latter provides more rhythm and momentum, but moore utilises syllabic verse to achieve a certain feeling of orderliness and clarity — no word is wasted. very idiosyncratic in her breadth and choices of focus, very startling and inventive in her pov. very very cool

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moore’s poetry is really dense and difficult to grasp. Her science background comes into focus as the poetic metre and rhyme is made more important than semantic meaning. I felt like I couldn’t fully understand any of the pieces though a few were interesting and I get the point that they are puzzles, observations of moments where the ideas emanating from objects become as important as the object itself - if you like the enigmatic then you’d probably love Moore.

[Connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

An exemplar of the vapidity of imagism's dogma. Imagists' refusal to suggest an abstract frame does not liberate; instead, it keeps one in tedious confinement in a chamber of exhaustive detail.

Nevertheless, Moore was a maven of syllabic structure and distant rhyme, and for that, she should be celebrated and studied.

[Leia Deva]

I need more time with this. Such difficult language, but there were some incredibly beautiful moments. Moore’s use of rhyme and line-breaks was original & refreshing.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Close to half of everything written here is a quote from somebody else; the rest is descriptions of animals. Not a fan at all.

[beau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the Marianne I know and love

[Ivette Dalianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moore's poetry has been hard to translate to me but I'm glad I did little by little because her poems has a complexity no many poets can achieve. You never stop digging into what she was trying to express.