Before You Read
Reading the Selection
Responding to Literature
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• To read a poem about the purpose of
poetry 
• To identify enjambment and to
understand its effect on the meaning
of a poem 
• To paraphrase a poem for a younger
audience
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Marianne Moore
was born in 1887
and died in 1972.
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more about Marianne Moore.
BACKGROUND
Scientific Influences
At Bryn Mawr College, Moore majored in biology
and histology, the study of plant and animal tissue
structure. She even considered pursuing a career
in medicine. Moore’s interest in science never left
her, as is apparent in both the subject matter and
the precision of her verse. Moore wrote
extensively of the natural world, and in a 1961
interview she discussed the importance of her
scientific training to her poetry: “Precision,
economy of statement, logic employed to ends
that are disinterested, drawing and identifying,
liberate–at least have some bearing on–the
imagination.”
FOCUS ACTIVITY
Do you think you understand what poetry is? 
Think-Pair-Share
Spend three minutes jotting down a list of
things you know about poetry. Then share
your list with a partner. 
Setting a Purpose
Read to learn one writer’s ideas of what
poetry is.
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A Active Reading
Connect
Moore’s poem describes some of the
difficulties of poetry. Before you read, write
down three things that you find difficult about
reading poetry. Think about how Moore’s
poem addresses these difficulties as you read.
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ABC
B Active Reading
Clarify
Clarify what Moore means in line 8 when
she criticizes poetic descriptions that
“become so derivative as to become
unintelligible.”
Moore criticizes the tendency to borrow
poetic descriptions from other poems.
These derivative descriptions become so
commonplace that they lose immediacy.
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C Literary Elements
Enjambment
Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence
of poetry across a line break without a
punctuated pause between lines. Moore uses
enjambment often in this selection. In this
poem, enjambment occurs from one stanza to
the next as well as from line to line.
Personal Response
Analyzing Literature
Literary Elements
Literature and Writing
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PERSONAL RESPONSE
Were you convinced by the writer’s
argument? Why or why not?
RECALL AND INTERPRET
What attitudes about poetry does the
speaker express in lines 1–3?
The speaker says that, like many readers,
she dislikes poetry but acknowledges that it
sometimes contains what is genuine.
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RECALL AND INTERPRET
What things does the speaker present
in lines 4–5? Why are they important?
What can you infer about the speaker’s
attitude toward poetry?
The speaker mentions grasping hands,
dilating eyes, and rising hair. These are
important because they are “useful.” The
speaker values the concrete and the real,
not “high-sounding interpretation.”
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RECALL AND INTERPRET
How does the speaker say people
react to poems that “become so
derivative as to become
unintelligible”? According to the
speaker, what kinds of “phenomena”
make good subjects for poetry? What
point do you think Moore is trying to
make in lines 8–18?
People don’t admire what they cannot
understand. Good subjects can be anything
from bats to schoolbooks, if they are
imbued with the quality of genuineness.
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RECALL AND INTERPRET
According to lines 18–25, what
accounts for the difference between
the work of “half poets” and that of
poets? How do you think presenting
“'imaginary gardens with real toads
in them'” results in poetry? Explain.
True poets are “‘literalists of the
imagination’” while “half poets” are mired in
“insolence and triviality.” A real poet can
describe an “imaginary garden” in so
genuine a way that even a toad becomes
real and therefore important.
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RECALL AND INTERPRET
According to lines 25–29, what two
demands indicate that a person is
interested in poetry? In your opinion,
what characteristics does the speaker
believe a good poem should have?
People who demand and respond to real
subjects and genuineness, or honesty, are
interested in poetry. The speaker believes a
good poem should not be derivative but
should deal honestly with subjects readers
will understand.
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EVALUATE AND CONNECT
Moore begins the poem by stating a
provocative opinion. Do you think this
is an effective way to begin the poem?
Explain.
Possible answer: The beginning of the
poem is effective; its provocativeness
catches the reader’s attention.
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EVALUATE AND CONNECT
How do the ideas presented in this
poem help you understand what
poetry is?
Possible answer: Moore’s opinions affect
the reader’s judgment of what poetry
should be about.
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EVALUATE AND CONNECT
What subjects might the speaker
suggest for poems written today?
Moore strongly suggests that any subject,
if presented with honesty, can be a proper
subject for a poem.
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LITERARY ELEMENTS
• Enjambment is a verse technique in which
the sense and grammatical structure of one
line carries over to the next line without a
punctuated pause. 
• Enjambed lines contrast with end-stopped
lines, in which both meaning and
grammatical structure come to an end or a
definitive pause at the end of lines. 
• In “Poetry,” enjambment serves to
emphasize certain words or to expand their
meanings by relating them to different
contexts. This technique also serves to
express the flow of the speaker’s thoughts.
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LITERARY ELEMENTS
Identify three examples of enjambment
in “Poetry.”
Enjambment occurs in the majority of
lines. It is especially effective in lines 6–8,
17–18, and 20–22.
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LITERARY ELEMENTS
In each example, what word or words
might Moore be trying to emphasize or
expand?
Possible answer: After lines 6–7, Moore
surprises the reader with the unexpected
word useful; after line 17, another
unexpected word, school-books,
surprises the reader; after line 20, Moore
emphasizes the phrase literalists of / the
imagination.
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In Support of Poetry
Make poetry fans out of an audience of fourth
or fifth graders. In your own words, rewrite
Moore’s ideas about poetry as stated in the
poem. Be sure to write for your younger
audience. Then make your presentation to a
fourth- or fifth-grade class.
Lines 11, 15, 29
Lines 7, 12, 17, 20, 22
Lines 25–29
Lines 6–8, 17–18