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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO A SNAIL, by MARIANNE MOORE Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: If 'compression is the first grace of style'
Last Line: In the curious phenomenon of your occipital horn.
Subject(s): Snails
First Line: If 'compression is the first grace of style'
Last Line: In the curious phenomenon of your occipital horn.
Subject(s): Snails
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.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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FOR A FIVE-YEAR-OLD by KAREN FLEUR ADCOCK
LITTLE SNAIL by HILDA CONKLING
I MAY, I MIGHT, I MUST by MARIANNE MOORE