Tell Me, Tell Me: Granite, Steel, and Other Topics

by Marianne Moore

New poems and prose.

Genres: Poetry

56 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 1966

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

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

More observations: cityscapes, art work, nature. The poems are more appealing than the prose.

[Allen Steele · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my introduction to Marianne Moore. She was 79 when she wrote this, and is widely considered the "The Lady of U.S. verse."
There were a few, like all collections, that were good, some great & some blah. Baseball & Writing- was excellent. This book won the MacDowell Colony Metal. This was the first time this award was given to a woman. 1957.
A direct quote from Ms. Moore, one of the most poignant in the entire book, "If what I write is called poetry it is because there is no other category in which to put it "

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The obscurity of Modernist poets was more obvious in this volume than some of the others. Still... some remarkable imagery (to name a few - "Sun" on humanity, "Rescue with Yul Brynner" on refugees, "Old Amusement Park" on its stated topic). And in classic Moore style, some wild and unexpected descriptions and a full gamut of poetic subjects - calling giraffes unconversational and emotionally stable, rhapsodizing on Bach, narrating the story of a tapestry, making baseball seem amazing, correcting folks' pronunciation of "Carnegie", and playing with languages - Italian and English - in a poem that was more the former than the latter. Worth reading for the description of the person in the very short poem "W.S. Landor".

Memorable lines:
-"It was patience protecting the soul...so that 'great wrongs were powerless to vex'" (An Expedient - Leonardo da Vinci's - And A Query)
-"Writing is exciting and baseball is like writing. You can never tell with either how it will go or what you will do" (Baseball and Writing)
-"Tell Me, Tell Me where might there be a refuge for me from egocentricity and its propensity to bisect, mis-state, misunderstand and obliterate continuity?...I am going to flee; by engineering strategy - the viper's traffic knot..." (Tell Me, Tell Me)
-"pastime that is work, muscular docility" (Blue Bug)

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

At this point I’m just padding my stats, no other explanation for it.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few great poems, but many that do little for me and a few I do not understand.

[Kit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of these works are a little slack in places and seem to concede to an interest in immediate clarity, but so what? Moore is Moore still. "To a Giraffe" and the prose about the crows are fantastic.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of poetry, Moore quotes herself in this book, “I, too, dislike it.” And I did not like this book. I’ve never read much Marianne Moore and I acknowledge that this book, written late in her life, doesn't contain the poems she’s famous for. So this not representative of her.

The poems were mostly snippets of books she was reading, shows she was watching, and events she attended. I found nothing in the poetry memorable and I read no lines that moved me. Nothing it the book expressed something I’ve been unable to express, nor did it teach or sing.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Poetry is the Mogul's dream: to be intensely toiling at what is pleasure." This an outtake from Subject, Predicate, Object. I found quite a few chubby babies in Ms. Moore's bathwater. My Crow, Pluto--a Fantasy is a witty piece that challenges the reader as to meaning, intent and attitude. Her verse worked best for me. Most telling for me is that I look forward to reading more of her material.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If what you have been reading savors of mythology, could I make it up? and if I could, would I impose on you? Remember, life is stranger than fiction."

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

More poems about corvids. More essays about poems about corvids.