“Poetics of Anthology” and Non-Painterly Abstraction of Marianne Moore's Poetry

Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (1): 117-128.

“Poetics of Anthology” and Non-Painterly Abstraction of Marianne Moore's Poetry

He Qingji

Published:2021-03-05
About author:He Qingji is Professor of English at the School of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang Gongshang University (Hangzhou 310018, China), specializing in British and American literature. Email: willyhe66@163.com
Supported by:
“Translation and Study of Marianne Moore's Complete Poems” (19BWW068) sponsored by the National Social Science Fund of China

Abstract

Abstract: Marianne Moore used to stick with free verse briefly in the 1920s and began to indulge herself in the culture of modern city and the art of modern painting at the same time. It is in this context that Moore formulated her unique concept of miscellany or hybridity - her poetics of anthology, which is typically demonstrated in her so-called “display and list” poetic technique and writing mode. These poems carry typical features of abstraction - non-iconic, anti-narrative, and non-linear - but this abstraction is different from the painterly abstraction in usual sense; it is a kind of “non-painterly abstraction.” While the “display and list” technique imitates culture of modernity in poetic form, it mocks it in content. Through a multi-layered exploration of this culture and the poetic writing in such a context, these poems reveal the poet's deep reflections on the spiritual aspect of such a culture and her great concern with the ontology of poetry.

Key words: Moore, display and list, poetics of anthology, non-painterly abstraction

He Qingji. “Poetics of Anthology” and Non-Painterly Abstraction of Marianne Moore's Poetry[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2021, 43(1): 117-128.

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