The Tired Apple Tree: Poems and Ballads

by Ruth Moore

This 1990 classic includes some of Ruth Moore's most insightful writing. The Tired Apple Tree boasts a total of 39 poems and ballads from Ruth Moore, including "Rocks," "The Offshore Islands," and "Remembrance of a Deserted Coastal Village." Moore finished writing the book shortly before she passed away in 1989 and it was published posthumously by Blackberry Books in 1990.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Ruth Moore (1903–1989) was an important Maine author of the twentieth century. She is best known for her honest portrayals of Maine people and evocative descriptions of the state. Now primarily thought of as a regional writer, Moore was a significant literary figure on the national stage during her career. Her second novel Spoonhandle spent fourteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in the company of George Orwell, W. Somerset Maugham and Robert Penn Warren. In her time, Moore was hailed as "New England's only answer to Faulkner".

In 1940 Ruth met Eleanor Mayo, an aspiring writer also from Maine, and the two soon became a couple. They returned to New York where Ruth got a job with The Readers Digest while writing her first novel, The Weir, which was published in 1943.

Reviews

[Daniela Sorgente · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered Ruth Moore as a young girl from a Reader's Digest Selection book of my mom's. What I liked most of all her books is Second Growth. In her books she often describes the life in the coastal fishing villages of Maine.
Many stories are told in this book of poems. The poem that I liked the most is the one that opens the collection and is called Rocks. I also liked To a contemporary poet, which begins by saying "Oh use the simple words, for God's sake, do" and is a call for greater clarity and simplicity in writing.