The Past is the Present

Marianne Moore 1887 (Kirkwood) – 1972 (New York City)



If external action is effete
and rhyme is outmoded,
I shall revert to you,
Habakkuk, as when in a Bible class
the teacher was speaking of unrhymed verse.
He said - and I think I repeat his exact words -
"Hebrew poetry is prose
with a sort of heightened consciousness." Ecstasy affords
the occasion and expediency determines the form.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 17, 2023

18 sec read
116

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHI
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 334
Words 62
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 9

Marianne Moore

Marianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit. more…

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