Roses Only
Marianne Moore 1887 (Kirkwood) – 1972 (New York City)
You do not seem to realize that beauty is a liability rather
than
an asset - that in view of the fact that spirit creates form
we are justified in supposing
that you must have brains. For you, a symbol of the
unit, stiff and sharp,
conscious of surpassing by dint of native superiority and
liking for everything
self-dependent, anything an
ambitious civilization might produce: for you, unaided, to
attempt through sheer
reserve, to confuse presumptions resulting from
observation, is idle. You cannot make us
think you a delightful happen-so. But rose, if you are
brilliant, it
is not because your petals are the without-which-nothing
of pre-eminence. Would you not, minus
thorns, be a what-is-this, a mere
perculiarity? They are not proof against a worm, the
elements, or mildew;
but what about the predatory hand? What is brilliance
without co-ordination? Guarding the
infinitesimal pieces of your mind, compelling audience to
the remark that it is better to be forgotten than to be re-
membered too violently,
your thorns are the best part of you.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 52 sec read
- 218 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXBCXXBA DEXFXXBFECDXCDXXD |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,034 |
Words | 176 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 17 |
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"Roses Only" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/26357/roses-only>.
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