Lines after Marianne Moore

While teaching some Marianne Moore poems, I invited students to write, if they wanted to (and they did), a two-stanza comment on Moore’s “Poetry,” using the stanza form of another Moore poem, “The Fish.” That five-line stanzas of that poem are organized by a rhyme scheme, AABBC, and a syllable count: one, three, nine, six, eight. Why? Because. I think of Moore’s singular designs in relation to William Carlos Williams’s contention that the poet creates “new forms as additions to nature,” marvelous constructions that take their places among the things of the world.

I too wrote two stanzas. My title is the title of Moore’s poem; thus the quotation marks:



Did amphibian inspire quotidian? Or vice versa? There’s no knowing.

Other Marianne Moore posts
A few notes
Marianne Moore magic
Marianne Moore on writing
Q and A