Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads.
Marianne MooreRead
In a poem the excitement has to maintain itself. I am governed by the pull of the sentence as the pull of a fabric is governed by gravity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of maintaining excitement and energy in poetry, likening it to the natural forces that govern physical materials.
Marianne Moore's quote highlights the necessity for a poem to sustain its excitement and dynamism throughout its structure. She draws an analogy between the engagement of a sentence in poetry and the physical pull of gravity on fabric, suggesting that the power of language must be compelling and cohesive to resonate authentically with the reader.
Themes
PoetryExcitementSentenceGravityArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a poetry workshop, to emphasize the importance of energy in poems to newcomers.
More from Marianne Moore
All quotes βNot till the poets among us can be "literalists of the imagination"-above insolence and triviality and can present for inspection, "imaginary gardens with real toads in them." shall we have it.
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Originality is... a by-product of sincerity.
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It is quite cruel that a poet cannot wander through his regions of enchantment without having a critic, forever, like the old man of the sea, upon his back.
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I see no reason for calling my work poetry except that there is no other category in which to put it.
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If technique is of no interest to a writer, I doubt that the writer is an artist.
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