|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
PICKING AND CHOOSING, by MARIANNE MOORE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Literature is a phase of life: if Last Line: Skin between the ears, are all we ask. Subject(s): Critics & Criticism; Literature | |||
LITERATURE is a phase of life: if one is afraid of it, the situation is irremediable; if one approaches it familiarly, what one says of it is worthless. Words are constructive when they are true; the opaque allusionthe simulated flight upwardaccomplishes nothing. Why cloud the fact that Shaw is selfconscious in the field of sentiment but is otherwise re- warding? that James is all that has been said of him, if feeling is profound? It is not Hardy the distinguished novelist and Hardy the poet, but one man "interpreting life through the medium of the emotions." If he must give an opinion, it is permissible that the critic should know what he likes. Gordon Craig with his "this is I" and "this is mine," with his three wise men, his "sad French greens" and his Chinese cherriesGordon Craig, so inclinational and unashamedhas carried the precept of being a good critic, to the last extreme; and Burke is a psychologistof acute, raccoon- like curiosity. Summa diligentia; to the humbug, whose name is so amusingvery young and ve- ry rushed, Cæsar crossed the Alps on the "top of a diligence." We are not daft about the meaning but this familiarity with wrong meanings puzzles one. Humming- bug, the candles are not wired for electricity. Small dog, going over the lawn, nipping the linen and saying that you have a badgerremember Xenophon; only the most rudimentary sort of behaviour is necessary to put us on the scent; a right good salvo of barks," a few "strong wrinkles" puckering the skin between the ears, are all we ask. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE ROAD TO LARRY ROBIN'S BOOKSTORE by ELEANOR WILNER THINGS WE DREAMT WE DIED FOR by MARVIN BELL SURVEY OF LITERATURE by JOHN CROWE RANSOM A RHYMED REVIEW; 'LAUGHING MUSE' (BY ARTHUR GUITERMAN) by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS NOVEMBER 4TH, 1937 by LEONARD BACON (1887-1954) THE SCHOOLROOM OF POETS by WILLIAM ROSE BENET TESTAMENT FOR MY STUDENTS, 1968 - 1969 by KAY BOYLE UPON READING A VOLUME OF ANCIENT CHINESE POETRY by THOMAS CURTIS CLARK I MAY, I MIGHT, I MUST by MARIANNE MOORE |
|