Marianne Moore's "Poetry" is written in defense of poetry. In the excerpts, which lines or phrases reflect Moore's opinion of what good poetry should be?

Question

Sabrina Bradshaw

English

2 February, 23:56

Marianne Moore's "Poetry" is written in defense of poetry. In the excerpts, which lines or phrases reflect Moore's opinion of what good poetry should be?

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Israel · Answer 1

We're starting to get more clarity on what "it" might be. It seems like "it" is something you'd be able to read. Given that, and given the pretty obvious title, we're going to conclude that our speaker is talking about ... (wait for it) poetry. We know; Sherlock Holmes would be proud. So, our speaker is down on poetry. Yeah, incredibly hard for us to believe, too. Like you, we think that poetry is the best thing since sliced bread, and in some cases way better (we're looking at you, Wonderbread). Still, somehow our speaker can read it with "perfect contempt," a flawless kind of hatred that must mean she's just super-down on poetry ... unless ... We say "unless" because of that "however" in line 3. So, sure she's drinking mad Haterade about poetry, but it seems like there may be a saving grace.