What led me to purchase Marianne Moore’s collection was when I reviewed facsimiles of her work. I cannot recall the name of the poem, but I do recall its several shapes and sizes as it shifted on the page, often with several years between revisions. Stanzas were formed, reformed, indented, and centered only to be un-centered later. Lines were enjambed and words sliced so its last syllable fell to the next line.
I fell in love with Moore the editor. So I bought her Complete Poems with the hope to glimpse her revisions over the years. It wasn’t until later that I discovered this was her Deathbed Edition, which collected poems already revised perhaps a dozen times, while excluding versions seemed deemed less-worthy.
One must wonder why I bitch about a collection that plays like a ‘Best of’ album. My only defense is that I wanted total immersion of her poetry, much like I get with the ‘Complete etc.’ collections.
All-in-all, I reckon it’s a silly complaint. Moore has a poetic sensibility beyond most I’ve read. Her poems are enigmatic and dense, incorporating thoughts and facts and magazine snippets from all across the board. The notes at the end are a helpful in enlightening the condensing and maybe even a little stealing Moore had done. Her mind encapsulated a formidable, even intimidating range of subjects and technical knowledge.
But often the meaning and purpose of her poems are utterly overwhelmed by her musicality. The tight composure of each poem, from its aesthetic beauty on the page to its harmonious sound when recited aloud, astonishes. And it will be what calls me back to her works.
There is a really nice interview in The Paris Review:
http://www.theparisreview.org/viewinterview.php/prmMID/4637
