Predilections
Marianne Moore on Pound, Stevens, Eliot and Anna Pavlova, written in the compressed magpie style of her poems. Criticism by an enthusiast rather than a judge.
Moore’s essays on the writers she returned to, among them Pound, Stevens, Eliot and the dancer Anna Pavlova, written in the same compressed, magpie style as her poems. Criticism by a poet who read as an enthusiast rather than a judge, quoting at length and explaining little, on the assumption that the right passage put in front of you does most of the arguing itself.
Recommended by 1 Person
Maria Popova
Moore had set down her views on writing in a series of essays later collected in the out-of-print gem Predilections (public library). Pulsating through them is a reckoning with the impossible task of the writer — to weave tapestries of truth and meaning from the tenuous thread of words on the ramshackle loom of language.
As an Amazon Associate, bookstoread.org earns from qualifying purchases. Links to Amazon on this page may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Spotted an error on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.