17. Marianne Moore

Modern Poetry (ENGL 310) with Langdon Hammer

The poetry of Marianne Moore is considered alongside its preoccupations with gender, American culture, and nature. The poem "A Grave" is presented as characteristic of the prose rhythms and discursive manner of Moore's poems, including their use of expository language without meter or rhyme. The poem "England" is read as a defense of American culture, in opposition to the Eurocentricism of Eliot, Pound, and other modernists. In the poem "An Octopus," Moore makes use of excerpts from pamphlets and other unusual prose sources to suggest that inspiration is not limited to any one voice or to literary models.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Women in Modernist Literary Culture
07:00 - Chapter 2. Marianne Moore Poem: "A Grave"
28:23 - Chapter 3. Marianne Moore Poem: "England"
35:58 - Chapter 4. Marianne Moore Poem: "An Octopus"

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Spring 2007.