Marianne Moore, Dylan Thomas, and Adrienne Rich: the Modernists, the Poets, and the Myths Anonymous College

Adrienne Rich, Dylan Thomas, and Marianne Moore are each icons of their literary eras and they represent in their work the shifting and varied ideologies of their times. Although they celebrate the figure of the poet, they approach the figure without the myth, and rather in an approachable and humble manner. Marianne Moore’s “Poetry” from 1919, Dylan Thomas’ “In My Craft or Sullen Art” from 1946, and Adrienne Rich’s “A Valediction Forbidding Mourning” from 1970, all deal with the art of poetry and what the poet represents as a figure in society. Moore and Thomas are Modernist poets, whereas Rich was a poet from the 1970s, under the second-wave feminist movement. All three figures were celebrated for their works that pushed the boundaries of literature and the above three poems did that especially well. The following three poems are written in a free-verse style, if not in the form, then in it’s rhetoric; this approach allows the art of poetry to be accessible to all who are literate. This inclusivity of their work encourages a wider audience to view poetry as an art form that all can enjoy, especially those outside of academia.

The three poets encompass a time span of over fifty years, and come from varied parts of the world...