"You make me think of many men Once met, to be forgot again"
December 8, 2024 3:08 PM Subscribe
"In May 1915, Marianne Moore made her first appearance in Poetry. Then twenty-seven-years old...The second time Moore submitted poems to the magazine, Harriet Monroe rejected them. A rather aggrieved Moore fired back, "Printed slips are enigmatic things and I thank you for your criticism on my poems. I shall try to profit by it.""
.."the late nineteen-fifties, when she was in her seventies, Marianne Moore became a star. She went on the “Tonight Show” to talk about the Brooklyn Dodgers with Jack Paar. The elderly poet was profiled in Sports Illustrated and featured on the cover of Esquire, with Jimmy Durante, Joe Louis, and others.George Plimpton picked her up in a limousine at her home in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and escorted her to a game at Yankee Stadium."
"We are meant to walk slowly, or sleepwalk; to walk and talk with the force of conviction, to draw attention to the blood-dark soil that a country’s supremacies bloom from, terrifies the people who use “difficult” as a code for shut up, know your place.
Difficulty is vital.
Moore’s poems were difficult in their own ways, and so, too, was Moore herself, who flummoxed and angered readers and reviewers who thought she was not the right kind of poet, not the right kind of woman. She was a poet of her era—the younger, more subversive Moore,"
from: '
In Praise of the Difficult: On Marianne Moore, Defiant Poet of Complexity'.
"but that to read Moore as challenging only this type of lyricism is to "risk minimizing some of the most innovative aspects of her work—namely, her use of found text, appropriation, and material from other disciplines to make a contribution to the philosophical discourses of the time period she inhabited."
'Marianne Moore's Use of Appropriation as Philosophical'
'Poetry'
'The Fish'
"We are meant to walk slowly, or sleepwalk; to walk and talk with the force of conviction, to draw attention to the blood-dark soil that a country’s supremacies bloom from, terrifies the people who use “difficult” as a code for shut up, know your place.
Difficulty is vital.
Moore’s poems were difficult in their own ways, and so, too, was Moore herself, who flummoxed and angered readers and reviewers who thought she was not the right kind of poet, not the right kind of woman. She was a poet of her era—the younger, more subversive Moore,"
from: '
In Praise of the Difficult: On Marianne Moore, Defiant Poet of Complexity'.
"but that to read Moore as challenging only this type of lyricism is to "risk minimizing some of the most innovative aspects of her work—namely, her use of found text, appropriation, and material from other disciplines to make a contribution to the philosophical discourses of the time period she inhabited."
'Marianne Moore's Use of Appropriation as Philosophical'
'Poetry'
'The Fish'
The Mind is An Enchanting Thing
is an enchanted thing
like the glaze on a
katydid-wing
subdivided by sun
till the nettings are legion.
Like Gieseking playing Scarlatti;
like the apteryx-awl
as a beak, or the
kiwi’s rain-shawl
of haired feathers, the mind
feeling its way as though blind,
walks along with its eyes on the ground.
It has memory’s ear
that can hear without
having to hear.
Like the gyroscope’s fall,
truly equivocal
because trued by regnant certainty,
it is a power of
strong enchantment. It
is like the dove-
neck animated by
sun; it is memory’s eye;
it’s conscientious inconsistency.
It tears off the veil; tears
the temptation, the
mist the heart wears,
from its eyes – if the heart
has a face; it takes apart
dejection. It’s fire in the dove-neck’s
iridescence; in the
inconsistencies
of Scarlatti.
Unconfusion submits
its confusion to proof: it’s
not a Herod’s oath that cannot change.
posted by storybored at 9:21 PM on December 8, 2024 [8 favorites]
is an enchanted thing
like the glaze on a
katydid-wing
subdivided by sun
till the nettings are legion.
Like Gieseking playing Scarlatti;
like the apteryx-awl
as a beak, or the
kiwi’s rain-shawl
of haired feathers, the mind
feeling its way as though blind,
walks along with its eyes on the ground.
It has memory’s ear
that can hear without
having to hear.
Like the gyroscope’s fall,
truly equivocal
because trued by regnant certainty,
it is a power of
strong enchantment. It
is like the dove-
neck animated by
sun; it is memory’s eye;
it’s conscientious inconsistency.
It tears off the veil; tears
the temptation, the
mist the heart wears,
from its eyes – if the heart
has a face; it takes apart
dejection. It’s fire in the dove-neck’s
iridescence; in the
inconsistencies
of Scarlatti.
Unconfusion submits
its confusion to proof: it’s
not a Herod’s oath that cannot change.
posted by storybored at 9:21 PM on December 8, 2024 [8 favorites]
A funny thing is that when I first read her poems, I assumed she was someone who wrote in the latter half of the 20th century but she was writing much earlier. Her stuff sounded modern to me.
posted by storybored at 9:23 PM on December 8, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by storybored at 9:23 PM on December 8, 2024 [2 favorites]
I totally agree, storybored! She is so fascinating to me. I'd like to point out another poet, writing during part of the same period, whom fans of Moore may appreciate, Polish poet Wisława Szymborska. See, for example, The Joy of Writing on this page, and this one, that I'll quote here:
Some Like Poetry
Some -
thus not all. Not even the majority of all but the minority.
Not counting schools, where one has to,
and the poets themselves,
there might be two people per thousand.
Like -
but one also likes chicken soup with noodles,
one likes compliments and the color blue,
one likes an old scarf,
one likes having the upper hand,
one likes stroking a dog.
Poetry -
but what is poetry.
Many shaky answers
have been given to this question.
But I don't know and don't know and hold on to it
like to a sustaining railing.
Translated by Regina Grol
I always come up sort scattered and confused when the question of whom, living or dead, one would like to have supper (or a beer) with, but I'm absolutely sure I'd love to sit at a cozy table and listen to these two chat. (in my world where I could do such a thing, they of course have no language barriers. And perhaps they wouldn't even vibe, but if not, they do still vibe.)
posted by taz at 2:24 AM on December 9, 2024 [3 favorites]
Some Like Poetry
Some -
thus not all. Not even the majority of all but the minority.
Not counting schools, where one has to,
and the poets themselves,
there might be two people per thousand.
Like -
but one also likes chicken soup with noodles,
one likes compliments and the color blue,
one likes an old scarf,
one likes having the upper hand,
one likes stroking a dog.
Poetry -
but what is poetry.
Many shaky answers
have been given to this question.
But I don't know and don't know and hold on to it
like to a sustaining railing.
Translated by Regina Grol
I always come up sort scattered and confused when the question of whom, living or dead, one would like to have supper (or a beer) with, but I'm absolutely sure I'd love to sit at a cozy table and listen to these two chat. (in my world where I could do such a thing, they of course have no language barriers. And perhaps they wouldn't even vibe, but if not, they do still vibe.)
posted by taz at 2:24 AM on December 9, 2024 [3 favorites]
Mod note: [Oh, and I forgot to say that we've added this to the sidebar and Best Of blog! Thank you for the post!]
posted by taz (staff) at 2:28 AM on December 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 2:28 AM on December 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
Great timing; I've been reading Yiyun Li's Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life this week, which mentions Moore's work extensively.
posted by terretu at 3:22 AM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by terretu at 3:22 AM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
Moore often employs syllabic verse, a rare form (in English) that counts syllables in each line rather than stresses. For example, the poem "The Mind is an Enchanting Thing", quoted above, is divided into stanzas of six lines with 6, 5, 4, 6, 7, 9 syllables respectively, but where there is no regular pattern of stresses. The vast majority of poems in English, back to Beowulf and before, have a regular pattern of stresses, but Moore's are closer to French poems in this respect.
posted by cyanistes at 5:08 AM on December 9, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by cyanistes at 5:08 AM on December 9, 2024 [3 favorites]
She is such an odd one. I think Moore was probably my first experience with hard poetry. Poems where you could tell something was going on but they kept getting past you, like you were chasing them through the halls of a big house with lots of closed doors. They weren't hostile poems--this was more like someone playing tag, than someone slamming those doors in your face. I kept going back to her for years after I'd given up doing anything with modernist literature, because like storybored says above there's something extremely now with her poems; maybe every generation thinks it has discovered putting the words from news stories and labels to other purposes. When I go back to The Pangolin now it's with me being a little older but the poem being just the same, with less pressure to get it, to interpret it, to try to find its secret meaning, but just to read it and have it. If you chase it, it runs away, but if you sit very still, it comes over to you.
posted by mittens at 5:44 AM on December 9, 2024 [7 favorites]
posted by mittens at 5:44 AM on December 9, 2024 [7 favorites]
Does it seem like the analysis on that (The Pangolin) is AI generated? I would disagree with parts of it, and swathes of it don't say enough to either argue or agree with, but I won't blather here. I'll just say that in particular, "Moore's use of precise language and unconventional comparisons reflects the modernist rejection of sentimentalism" is hmmm. Sentimental, it isn't. But it is tender. Very defiantly tender.
posted by taz at 9:47 AM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by taz at 9:47 AM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
I learned not long ago of her friendship with Joseph Cornell, which made sense to me. If you have JSTOR access, here's an interesting article on that relationship.
posted by the sobsister at 10:20 AM on December 9, 2024 [4 favorites]
posted by the sobsister at 10:20 AM on December 9, 2024 [4 favorites]
A certain cohort of Generation X was introduced to Marianne Moore not through her poetry but through her correspondance with the Ford Motor Company in the mid-1950s. It was reprinted for some reason in one of those omnibus readers issued to highschoolers in the late 70s or early 80s, after first being published in The New Yorker and later in a humor compilation. There's even been a small number of indy bands in the 80s and early 90s that I strongly suspect trace their band names to this, although to the best of my knowledge no automobiles can.
I can't directly link you to a useful resource but if you don't have access to The New Yorker's archives, track down a copy of Mordecai Richler's The Best of Modern Humor and start at page 66. It's going to be easier to find than that reader whose title I can't remember.
posted by at by at 10:56 AM on December 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
I can't directly link you to a useful resource but if you don't have access to The New Yorker's archives, track down a copy of Mordecai Richler's The Best of Modern Humor and start at page 66. It's going to be easier to find than that reader whose title I can't remember.
posted by at by at 10:56 AM on December 9, 2024 [1 favorite]
A certain cohort of Generation X was introduced to Marianne Moore not through her poetry but through her correspondance with the Ford Motor Company in the mid-1950s.
This isn't the whole thing, but here's a partial list of the car names that Marianne Moore submitted in 1955 to the Ford Motor Company.
Spoiler alert: the car in question was eventually named (not one of Moore's suggestions) ... the Edsel.
posted by How the runs scored at 1:33 PM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
This isn't the whole thing, but here's a partial list of the car names that Marianne Moore submitted in 1955 to the Ford Motor Company.
Spoiler alert: the car in question was eventually named (not one of Moore's suggestions) ... the Edsel.
posted by How the runs scored at 1:33 PM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
(First off, love Marianne Moore and thank you for this great post!)
This is a bit tangential, but it's really wild, almost incomprehensible to me, that figures in the avant-garde (and poetry no less!) could crossover in any way to popular culture. Moore on the Tonight Show, Zappa on the Steve Allen show, Cage on I've Got a Secret. And later, but not unrelated in terms of this kind of thing, Andy Warhol on Loveboat. It would not surprise me to hear that Fluxus had a performance on the Ed Sullivan Show
posted by treepour at 3:29 PM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
This is a bit tangential, but it's really wild, almost incomprehensible to me, that figures in the avant-garde (and poetry no less!) could crossover in any way to popular culture. Moore on the Tonight Show, Zappa on the Steve Allen show, Cage on I've Got a Secret. And later, but not unrelated in terms of this kind of thing, Andy Warhol on Loveboat. It would not surprise me to hear that Fluxus had a performance on the Ed Sullivan Show
posted by treepour at 3:29 PM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
Moore Or Less is a nice biographic piece that gives some detail on the infamous Ford letters, along with some good insights into her poetry and personality.
posted by storybored at 9:44 PM on December 9, 2024 [3 favorites]
posted by storybored at 9:44 PM on December 9, 2024 [3 favorites]
"I'd like to point out another poet, writing during part of the same period, whom fans of Moore may appreciate, Polish poet Wisława Szymborska."
The name sounds familiar....I will check it out. Thanks, Taz!
posted by storybored at 9:46 PM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
The name sounds familiar....I will check it out. Thanks, Taz!
posted by storybored at 9:46 PM on December 9, 2024 [2 favorites]
The Edsel, named for Henry Ford's son I believe, was a horrendous looking failure for Ford.
posted by DJZouke at 5:30 AM on December 10, 2024
posted by DJZouke at 5:30 AM on December 10, 2024
I look forward to reading these links!
Moore mentored Elizabeth Bishop, another great poet of this period, who wrote an intriguing poem about her: Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore.
posted by tuesdayschild at 1:01 PM on December 19 [3 favorites]
Moore mentored Elizabeth Bishop, another great poet of this period, who wrote an intriguing poem about her: Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore.
posted by tuesdayschild at 1:01 PM on December 19 [3 favorites]
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