The Jerboa (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Marianne Moore
- First Published: 1932
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Freedom, Art or artists, Egypt or Egyptians, Wealth, Animals, Rats or mice
“The Jerboa” is a poem in two sections. In the first, Moore weaves together references to Egyptian art and the animals kept by Egypt's royal courts. In the second, she juxtaposes those articles of opulent living with the jerboa, a tiny desert rat which uses natural powers of survival. These contrasting images illustrate one of Moore's favorite themes: the value of the natural unity of form and function over the tendency of human cultures to perfect, transform, or possess nature, both in art and in life.
The opening stanza of the first section, “Too Much,” contains the...
[The entire page is 915 words long]
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