Marianne MooreRecensioni

I actually prefer the versions of "Marriage" and "An Octopus" that appear in her oft-dismissed "Complete Poems." The highlight of this volume, for me, is the subject index. Even more than the notes, the subject index is a fascinating key to interpretation. I kept thinking of Nabokov's use of notes and index in "Pale Fire."

Strangely disappointing. The flap text quotes T.S. Eliot as having written, "One of the books which obviously must in the fullness of time be published [...] will be the Letters of Marianne Moore." Since this volume includes only a few, very short letters from her to him, it's almost impossible to know what he was thinking when he wrote that assessment. I would have preferred a volume combining her prose with a handful of the best letters here.

Good

There are those who will talk for an hour
without telling you why they have
come. And I? This is no madrigal--

Moore features prominently in the biography of Pound I am presently embroiled in with my friends. She was but a name, I knew nothing further, which is the case for most poets. The disparate contexts in this collection all appear to unshackle memory and lament time's insistence. This occurs from discussing the Brooklyn Dodgers as well as the failures of idealism at Jamestown. The language appears precious, lovingly chosen and placed.

Jean de la Fontaine is a must-read for anyone interested in folktales and fables throughout history.

The 17th-century poet took various tales from Aesop, Greek myth, and various other sources and set them to verse. Here, they appear in English translation. While the presentation of the stories and their social commentary is witty; I didn't find the 'poetry' of the language to be that engaging - the rhyme could be distracting, and the phrasing was often clunky. I don't know if this has to do with the original or the translation; I suspect a combination of both.

For French poems in translation; I tend to prefer a side-by-side presentation - even if one understands little of the original language, one can read to get an idea of the sound and rhythm of the original. However, I'm sure the originals are available freely online, for those motivated to look them up.

The selected fables presented here (apparently, the book includes about half of de la Fontaine's fabulist output) are prefaced by a very nice academic essay on the author, which really helps place the writing in context. There are also liberal endnotes mentioning the source (if known), and references found in each fable. I might've preferred if the notes relating to each story were found adjacent to the relevant section, but overall, this was fine.

A recommended volume.

I received a copy of this title through NetGalley. Thanks to NetGalley and Oxford University Press.

Marianne Moore has a complex bibliography, as she revised some poems over the years; as result, the various "Complete Poems," especially that of 1967 (and its later republications), are not as complete as one would wish, because it is essentially impossible to pin down a specific version of a revised poem as "the definitive version". "The Poems of Marianne Moore," and, "Becoming Marianne Moore," are the best beginnings.

None of that detracts from the fact that she is delightful, with that genuine, infectious childlike sensibility essential to the "wide-eyedness" of the artist.

Have a dictionary nearby ("pangolin," as defined in Merriam-Webster: "any of several Asiatic and African edentate mammals . . . having the body covered with large imbricated horny scales"), and you'll have fun.

This review applies to the Viking edition of selected fables, translated by James Michie with an introduction by Geoffrey Grigson and the illustrations of J. J. Grandville (from an 1842 Paris edition). Grandville's illustrations may well be the best part of the book. La Fontaine's verse retellings of ancient fables (mostly of Aesop and Phaedrus) may lose something in the translation, but mostly didn't make for particularly pleasant reading: the verse comes through as somewhat stilted. Nonetheless, it was neat to see the versions of these stories that La Fontaine's contemporary readers would have known and learned.½

A poet should be reviewed with a poem

FOR MM
she
from matter
exotic
weaves
fabrics
that always
promise
more

I have read many of the most famous classic poems and poetry of some of the greatest poets. I like to give poets the benefit of the doubt and read the entire book even if I don't like it. I tried this with Moore's book but I just couldn't finish it. Most of the poems start out with meaning and flow but tend to end up as ramblings making no sense at all. Moore posses a fluent vocabulary but most of the time it appears she is just using words for their beauty but not making any sense in relation to the poem. I understand in poetry there is not right or wrong but I just didn't really get it.

A book my grandmother found for me at a library sale. Contains an amazing interview with Anne Sexton in her prime.

I was not impressed with my first reading of Fontaine’s fables. The rhyming scheme seems to numb my brain and have a glossing-over effect on my eyes. I have heard rave reviews about this translation (by Eunice Clark), but mostly among French students who have the English/French parallel edition. I cannot help but wonder if these verses were better in French and the trouble lies in the translation. At any rate, Fontaine retells classic fables, riddling them with rhymes and occasionally an appended moral. The Hen That Laid the Golden Egg, The Little Carp and the Angler, The Stag and the Vine, and The Lion in Love are a few examples of classics retold. Unfortunately, this version includes no introductory material or guide for the reader as to which tales are adapted and which are originals. As for the illustrations, I think I prefer Alexander Calder’s work in sculpture. The animal drawings are entertaining, but I would prefer a few more loincloths and tank tops for the humans featured. To each his own, I suppose.

A friend, years ago, introduced us. I have been enraptured ever since. Even though I no longer pretend to write poetry, our love affair continutes.

Excellent poetry, but one often has to be wide awake to follow it.

Marianne Moore, you are very smart and bright and small. You can tell that about you and about you being with your mother and visiting just about everywhere there are brightnesses and so you are stretching and honeing and hawing, you call forth with a smirk the little things, forte and da, and all of it is so very smart and bright in the smart light.

paperback

Fiction

398.2

An interesting poet. Good concepts in poetry.