Marianne Moore

Born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in 1887, Marianne Moore grew up in Pennsylvania and graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1909. She became one of the key figures in modernist poetry, admired for her precise language, unusual rhythms, and close attention to animals, art, and the quirks of everyday life.

Moore was also an influential editor and critic. She served as acting editor and then editor of The Dial, an important literary magazine, and helped champion new writing during a formative period in American literature. Among her best-known books are Observations and Collected Poems.

Her work brought her some of the highest literary honors in the United States, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Collected Poems. She died in New York City in 1972, leaving behind poetry that is exacting, playful, and deeply original.