Chronology
1887- born November 15 in Kirkwood, Missouri
-moved with mother to Carlisle,
Pennsylvania
1909-graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in biology
1911-traveled with mother to England and France
1911-1915-studied typing at Carlisle Commercial School, taught at the
U. S.
Indian School
in Carlisle
1915-published in the Egoist and Harriet Moore’s Poetry
1916-moved with mother to Brooklyn to live with brother
1921-“Poetry”
1921-first book, Poems, published in London without Moore’s knowledge,
1921-1925-became assistant at New York Public Library
1924-“A Grave,” “To a Snail”
1924-Observations published, won Dial Award
1925-became acting editor of the Dial, an American journal of literature
and
arts
1929-Dial disbanded
1935-Selected Poems of Marianne Moore published
1944-“Nevertheless,” “The Mind Is an Enchanting Thing”
1947-mother dies
1951-“Keeping Their World Large”
1951-received the Bollingen, National Book, and Pulitzer Awards for
Collected Poems, became
a more prominent public figure
1954-published a translation of The Fables of La Fontaine, an original
work
of Jean de la
Fontaine
1955-Predilections, a volume of critical papers, published
1958-Idiosyncrasy and Technique: Two Lectures published
1959-“O to Be a Dragon”
1967-Complete Poems published
1968-invited to throw first ball of the season in Yankee Stadium (avid
baseball fan)
1972-died February 5 in New York, NY
Selected Bibliography
*Poetry
Poems (1921)
Observations (1924)
Selected Poems (1935)
The Pangolin and Other Verses (1936)
What Are Years? (1941)
Nevertheless (1944)
Collected Poems (1951)
Like a Bulwark (1956)
O to be a Dragon (1959)
The Arctic Fox (1964)
Tell Me, Tell Me (1966)
The Complete Poems of Marianne Moore (1987)
*Prose
Predilections (1955)
A Marianne Moore Reader (1961)
The Complete Prose of Marianne Moore (1987)
*Anthology
Rock Crystal (1945) translated with Elizabeth Mayer
The Fables of La Fontaine (1954)
Style and Reputation
Marianne Moore was considered an inventive modernist, greatly
admired by other poets of her time. While holding to the style of
modernism by using quotes from outside sources and breaking with tradition,
Moore acknowledged no great social mission in her poetry. She kept
her language extraordinarily condensed and precise but she used elaborate
verse patterns with odd rhyme schemes to create complex and subtle effects
in her work and counterpoint her “unbearable accuracy” of language.
Moore was famous for describing the imagination of poetry as having “imaginary
gardens with real toads in them.” Though she was considered the “poet’s
poet” because of her complicated techniques, Moore also wrote a great deal
of prose and chastised poets for their neglect of the writing style.
Marianne Moore Links
PSA Journal
http://www.poetrysociety.org/journal/articles/tributes/moore.html
The Marianne Moore Society
http://www.edinboro.edu/~ejoyce/moore.html
Voices and Visions
http://www.learner.org/catalog/literature/vvseries/vvspot/Moore.html
Imagism
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/imagism-def.html
Twentieth Century Literature
http://www.findarticles.com/m0403/nl_v44/20851472/p1/article.jhtml
Heath Anthology
http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/moore.html
Works Cited
Baym, Nina.ed. “Marianne Moore.” The Norton Anthology American Literature.
New York: WW Norton and Company, 1998. 1275-1276.
“Marianne Moore.” Author’s Calendar. Online available: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mmoor.html (March 6, 2001).
“Marianne Moore.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Online available: www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/printable/4/0,579722,54974,00.html (March 6, 2001).
“Marianne Moore.” The Academy of American Poets. Online available: www.poets.org/lit/poet/mmoorfst.htm (March 6, 2001)
Reuben, Paul P. Perspectives in American Literature: A Research
and Reference Guide. Online available: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/moore.html.
(March 6, 2001).