Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHEN I BUY PICTURES, by MARIANNE MOORE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Or what is closer to the truth Last Line: It must acknowledge the spiritual forces which have made it. Subject(s): Art & Artists | ||||||||
Or what is closer to the truth, when I look at that of which I may regard myself as the imaginary possessor, I fix upon what would give me pleasure in my average moments: the satire upon curiosity in which no more is discernible than the intensity of the mood; or quite the oppositethe old thing, the mediæval decorated hat-box, in which there are hounds with waists diminishing like the waist of the hourglass and deer and birds and seated people; it may be no more than a square of parquetry; the literal biography perhaps, in letters standing well apart upon a parchment-like expanse; an artichoke in six varieties of blue; the snipe-legged hieroglyphic in three parts; the silver fence protecting Adam's grave, or Michael taking Adam by the wrist. Too stern an intellectual emphasis upon this quality or that, detracts from one's enjoyment; it must not wish to disarm anything; nor may the approved triumph easily be honored that which is great because something else is small. It comes to this: of whatever sort it is, it must be "lit with piercing glances into the life of things"; it must acknowledge the spiritual forces which have made it. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE OLD AND THE NEW MASTERS by RANDALL JARRELL TO A YOUNG ARTIST by ROBINSON JEFFERS BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS ART VS. TRADE by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE POET VISITS THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS by MARY OLIVER ON PASSION AS A LITERARY TRADITION by JOHN CIARDI I MAY, I MIGHT, I MUST by MARIANNE MOORE |
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