Marianne Moore

Award winning author Marianne Moore was born in 1887. Having published her first poem in 1915- many new she would be a force to be reckoned with. Moore won numerous awards for her poetry that focused on the fundamentals of nature, writing, and athletics. She most definitely qualifies as a modernist poet. I chose to analyze her poem To a Snail because I felt it exemplifies the idea of modernist writing pretty well. 

The formatting is a little weird- check out the link below for better formatting of the poem: 

http://poetryx.com/poetry/poems/8793/

To a Snail

If “compression is the first grace of style”,
you have it.  Contractility is a virtue
as modesty is a virtue.
It is not the acquisition of any one thing
that is able to adorn,
or the incidental quality that occurs
as a concomitant of something well said,
that we value in style,
but the principle that is hid:
in the absence of feet, “a method of conclusions”;
“a knowledge of principles”,
in the curious phenomenon of your occipital horn.


After first looking at this poem I was thinking, boy this is strange. Since I new to look for ties to modernism I first noticed the title. "To a Snail" is very interesting, my first thoughts jumped to the idea that it must be about nature- that's a tie to modernism! Alas, I quickly realized this poem is talking about the fundamentals but not the fundamentals of nature, but rather the core of writing. Specifically, the beauty and technique of writing conclusions. I will be honest this is not what first came to mind, but after reading more about Moore and this poem this theme did not seem so strange. The line starting with "as a concomitant..." is talking about how a good ending almost always accompanies a well said idea. She follows by saying that in the feet or end of the poem or writing hides the "'knowledge of principles." If talking about the fundamentals of writing and nature is not enough I read that many modernist liked to experiment with the form and structure of poetry. Though I think this analysis may be a stretch I read that some believe that the enjambment that makes the poem have a long line followed by a short line, repeated over and over, represents the motion of a snail contacting and expanding. Overall, Moore was one cool lady who clearly fit the modernist style of writing. To a Snail is only one example of many.