Mr. Gershman
Miss Arsenault
ILA 9 Honors
Julia McNamee
11/11/08
Critical Analysis
There is no set definition to the term poetry. In Marianne Moore’s poem,
“Poetry,” the speaker talks about their own interpretation of it. The date this poem was
written is unknown, but it was published in 1919 in a literary journal (“Poetry”). It was
written during the modernist free verse movement. “Poetry” is about people’s perceptions
of poetry, and what it means to them. If you don’t have an understanding of poetry, you
can’t genuinely enjoy it. People can see poetry it as boring and confusing, but if they take
the time to look at it in other ways and identify the themes, it can be open to
interpretation.
Imagination comes across in almost every poem, including, “Poetry”. The
comprehension of poetry is based on how well a person can use their imagination to try
and find meaning behind the words and phrases. Poets have been doing this since
William Wordsworth and Taylor Coleridge said imagination was crucial in poetry
(“Poetry”). Imagination has more of an important role in poetry rather than just using
fancy words. “…the imagination synthesizes disparate impressions, ideas, etc. into a
unified whole” (QTD In “Poetry”). “Poetry” supports this analysis of imagination, even
though, Moore believes that, “imagination can only be effective if applied to stuff of the
real world, that is, the genuine” (QTD. In “Poetry”).
Nature is a common ground and a peaceful place. Moore was inspired by her love
of nature as shown when she uses animals as examples of what “we cannot understand”
in stanza three (Moore). She is comparing animal behavior in which humans cannot
understand, to poetry that humans can also not comprehend. Moore then goes on to use
some figurative language in the third stanza. She uses metaphors, personification,
alliteration, end rhyme, imagery and hyperboles in her poems. In her poem, “Poetry,”
however, the only literary device used is a simile. For example, in the third stanza, she
states, “…the immovable critic twitching his skin like a horse that feels a flea…”
(Moore). It is important to understand the figurative language in poems because they go
beyond the basic meaning of the words and phrases to help give a better understanding of
what is being read.
Modernism is also portrayed in Moore’s poem. She uses many modernist
techniques throughout the poem, such as allusion and irony. Moore states, “I, too, dislike
it,” in the first line of “Poetry” (“Poetry”). This first line may seem as if the speaker is
talking about poetry itself which he or she dislikes. However, using imagination and
historical context, you could infer the real meaning. Moore is implying she does not like
the general view of modern poetry having nothing to do with real life (“Poetry”). During
the time “Poetry” was published in the Others in 1919, people were still shaken up about
World War I, which had ended a year before (“Poetry”). The roaring twenties came soon
after, and people began to recover from the hard times of the war and adjust to the
changes. At this time, poets and writers were trying out ways to incorporate the way
people felt about the war into their work. Marianne Moore was writing poetry about the
psychical world and using lots of detailed imagery and preciseness (“Poetry”).
“Poetry” was written early in Moore’s career. It was however considered one of
her greatest poems because it was published in three of her books (“Poetry”). It was
published at a time when people were still taken aback from the war that had just taken
place, by a modernist poet with a unique style of writing. Moore’s concern with people
understanding what’s genuine in poetry fueled her to write this poem. Nature,
imagination, and modernism are all themes in “Poetry” that help to better analyze and
fully understand the meaning of the work.