American Literature – Page 7 – Interesting Literature

10 of the Best Marianne Moore Poems Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Marianne Moore (1887-1972) was one of the most distinctive and accomplished modernist poets of the twentieth century. Along with William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens, she stands as the greatest American modernist – of those poets who remained in America (others, such as T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and H. D., left the States for Britain).

Indeed, Eliot himself called her work ‘part of the body of durable poetry written in our time’ and praises her ‘original sensibility’, ‘alert intelligence’, and ‘deep feeling’. Below, we introduce ten of Marianne Moore’s best poems.

A Short Analysis of E. E. Cummings’ ‘may I feel said he’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘may i feel said he’ is one of E. E. Cummings’ most playful poems, detailing the to-and-fro between a man and a woman engaged in a fling (the man’s wife is mentioned, so the female speaker here must be his mistress). It’s one of Cummings’ more straightforward and easily comprehensible poems; nevertheless, some words of analysis may help to tease out the seductive and erotic power of the poem.

You can read ‘may i feel said he’ here.

A Summary and Analysis of Robert Frost’s ‘Birches’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Originally titled ‘Swinging Birches’, the poem ‘Birches’ is one of Robert Frost’s most widely anthologised and studied poems, first published in 1915. Although Frost’s style is often direct and accessible, his poems are subtle and sometimes even ambiguous in their effects, so some words of analysis may be of use here.

A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘Sonnet – To Science’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Sonnet – To Science’ is one of the earliest poems written by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49). Indeed, this poem was written when Poe was barely 20, in 1829! It appeared in print that year, in Poe’s second collection of verse, Tamerlane and Other Poems.

Although ‘Sonnet – To Science’ may appear to be a hymn to the importance of scientific endeavour and discovery, there’s a little more going on in this poem. Before we offer some words of analysis, here’s the text of the poem.

A Summary and Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Young Goodman Brown’ (1835) is one of the most famous stories by the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Inspired in part by the Salem witch craze of 1692, the story is a powerful exploration of the dark side of human nature. How Hawthorne loads his story with such power is worthy of some closer analysis.