ENGL 310: Modern Poetry

Lecture 17 - Marianne Moore << previous session | next session >>

Overview:

The poetry of Marianne Moore is considered alongside its preoccupations with gender, American culture, and nature. The poem "A Grave" is presented as characteristic of the prose rhythms and discursive manner of Moore's poems, including their use of expository language without meter or rhyme. The poem "England" is read as a defense of American culture, in opposition to the Eurocentricism of Eliot, Pound, and other modernists. In the poem "An Octopus," Moore makes use of excerpts from pamphlets and other unusual prose sources to suggest that inspiration is not limited to any one voice or to literary models.  

Reading assignment:

Marianne Moore: "To a Steam-Roller," "The Fish," "Black Earth," "England," "In the Days of Prismatic Color," "A Grave," "An Octopus," "The Paper Nautilus," "New York," "Sojourn in the Whale"
Elizabeth Bishop: "Efforts of Affection"

At the request of the Literary Estate of Marianne Moore, the poetry of Marianne Moore is not included in Open Yale Courses.

Class lecture: Some copyright-protected content has been excluded from this lecture.

Transcript
html
Audio
mp3
Video
medium bandwidth
low bandwidth
high bandwidth

Resources:

Handout 9: Marianne Moore [text]