"Poetry," by the American modernist poet Marianne Moore, grapples with what makes a poem important or worthwhile—or even a poem at all. Its speaker urges poets to take their craft seriously and not just try to show off or imitate other writers. Only when poets become "literalists of the imagination"—use their imaginative capacities to reveal or engage with something "genuine"—can they achieve something that, in the speaker's view, deserves to be called poetry. Moore first published "Poetry" in 1919, but published several other revised versions over the course of her life, including a controversial 3-line version in The Complete Poems of Marianne Moore (1967).
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The Full Text of “Poetry”
1I too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle.
2 Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in
3 it after all, a place for the genuine.
4 Hands that can grasp, eyes
5 that can dilate, hair that can rise
6 if it must, these things are important not because a
7high-sounding interpretation can be put upon them but because they are
8 useful. When they become so derivative as to become unintelligible,
9 the same thing may be said for all of us, that we
10 do not admire what
11 we cannot understand: the bat
12 holding on upside down or in quest of something to
13eat, elephants pushing, a wild horse taking a roll, a tireless wolf under
14 a tree, the immovable critic twitching his skin like a horse that feels a flea, the base-
15 ball fan, the statistician—
16 nor is it valid
17 to discriminate against "business documents and
18school-books"; all these phenomena are important. One must make a distinction
19 however: when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry,
20 nor till the poets among us can be
21 "literalists of
22 the imagination"—above
23 insolence and triviality and can present
24for inspection, "imaginary gardens with real toads in them," shall we
25 have it. In the meantime, if you demand on the one hand,
26 the raw material of poetry in
27 all its rawness and
28 that which is on the other hand
29 genuine, you are interested in poetry.
The Full Text of “Poetry”
1I too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle.
2 Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in
3 it after all, a place for the genuine.
4 Hands that can grasp, eyes
5 that can dilate, hair that can rise
6 if it must, these things are important not because a
7high-sounding interpretation can be put upon them but because they are
8 useful. When they become so derivative as to become unintelligible,
9 the same thing may be said for all of us, that we
10 do not admire what
11 we cannot understand: the bat
12 holding on upside down or in quest of something to
13eat, elephants pushing, a wild horse taking a roll, a tireless wolf under
14 a tree, the immovable critic twitching his skin like a horse that feels a flea, the base-
15 ball fan, the statistician—
16 nor is it valid
17 to discriminate against "business documents and
18school-books"; all these phenomena are important. One must make a distinction
19 however: when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry,
20 nor till the poets among us can be
21 "literalists of
22 the imagination"—above
23 insolence and triviality and can present
24for inspection, "imaginary gardens with real toads in them," shall we
25 have it. In the meantime, if you demand on the one hand,
26 the raw material of poetry in
27 all its rawness and
28 that which is on the other hand
29 genuine, you are interested in poetry.
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“Poetry” Summary
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“Poetry” Themes
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The Nature and Purpose of Poetry
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Poetry”
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Lines 1-3
I too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyond all this fiddle.
Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in
it after all, a place for the genuine. -
Lines 4-8
Hands that can grasp, eyes
that can dilate, hair that can rise
if it must, these things are important not because a
high-sounding interpretation can be put upon them but because they are
useful. -
Lines 8-11
When they become so derivative as to become unintelligible,
the same thing may be said for all of us, that we
do not admire what
we cannot understand: -
Lines 11-15
the bat
holding on upside down or in quest of something to
eat, elephants pushing, a wild horse taking a roll, a tireless wolf under
a tree, the immovable critic twitching his skin like a horse that feels a flea, the base-
ball fan, the statistician— -
Lines 16-19
nor is it valid
to discriminate against "business documents and
school-books"; all these phenomena are important. One must make a distinction
however: when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, -
Lines 20-25
nor 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. -
Lines 25-29
In the meantime, if you demand on the one hand,
the raw material of poetry in
all its rawness and
that which is on the other hand
genuine, you are interested in poetry.
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“Poetry” Symbols
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Gardens and Toads
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“Poetry” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Irony
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Metaphor
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Repetition
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Allusion
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Enjambment
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“Poetry” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Fiddle
- Contempt
- Dilate
- High-sounding interpretation
- Unintelligible
- Derivative
- Immovable
- Statistician
- Discriminate against
- Phenomena
- Make a distinction
- Prominence
- Literalists
- Insolence
- Triviality
- Inspection
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Poetry”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Poetry” Speaker
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“Poetry” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Poetry”
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More “Poetry” Resources
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External Resources
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Revising "Poetry" — Read about Moore's complicated relationship to her own poem, including her many revisions over the years.
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A Reading of the Poem — "Poetry" read aloud by actress Kathy Bates.
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A Biography of the Poet — Learn more about Marianne Moore at the Poetry Foundation.
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The Purpose of Poetry — Moore isn't the only poet to try to define what poetry is and why it's important. Here are 20 other poets on the same subject.
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Marianne Moore: A Reluctant Poet — Learn more about the fascinating figure who "prefer[red] baseball, museums and circuses to literature."
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A Moore Documentary — Watch a short film on Moore's life and work.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Marianne Moore
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