“The
deepest feeling always shows itself in silence;
not
in silence, but restraint."—Marianne Moore, “Silence”
American
modernist poet Marianne Moore was
born on this date in 1887 near St. Louis, Mo. The lines above are typical of
much of her work, in that the line break can feel disorienting. This particular
poem is a kind of “envelope poem,” in which the narrator disappears, to be
followed by the voice of her father, then back to the narrator. The interplay
between the two—a form of “silence,” in and of itself—suggests volumes, even in
its “restraint,” on their relationship. Unfortunately, the “deepest feeling”
between them might very well not be love.
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