The Steeple-Jack (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Marianne Moore
- First Published: 1932
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: New England, Small-town life, Refugees, Fishing or fishermen, Aesthetics, Church or churches, Ocean, Belief or doubt, Waves
The Poem
The six-line stanzas (thirteen in all) of “The Steeple-Jack” look oddly ragged at first glance, until one sees that each stanza’s pattern is rigorously maintained throughout. Because the poem reads in straightforward sentences, the subject of the whole is easy to identify. A speaker with much information at his or her disposal is providing the reader with a description, full of out-of-the-way details, of a charming New England seaside town. Throughout the poem, the town is described as a peaceful, safe haven; the ocean’s waves are “formal,” and fishnets are...
[The entire page is 1472 words long]
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