England

by Marianne Moore — a poem card from Justes Mots

Moore's modernist meditation on England and America examines national character through vivid descriptive details and comparative analysis of different cultures. The poem defends America against charges of inferiority by arguing that cultural wisdom is not geographically confined and that misapprehension reveals limited perspective. It serves readers seeking intellectual reflection on national identity and cultural pride.

with its baby rivers and little towns, each with its abbey or its cathedral;
with voices—one voice perhaps, echoing through the transept—the
criterion of suitability and convenience; and Italy with its equal
shores—contriving an epicureanism from which the grossness has been

extracted; and Greece with its goats and its gourds, the nest of modified illusions:
and France, the “chrysalis of the nocturnal butterfly” in
whose products, mystery of construction diverts one from what was originally…

Themes: encouragement · graduation · new-chapter · recovery