O to Be a Dragon

O to Be a Dragon is a 1959 poetry collection by American poet Marianne Moore, as well as the title of the collection's eponymous poem. It was published by Viking Press in New York City. ^[1]

It was not initially published by Faber & Faber in England, as the publisher's editor, TS Eliot, considered it too short. However, in 1964, it was combined with four additional poems and a collection that had not previously appeared in the United Kingdom and was issued as The Arctic Fox. ^[2]

TIME magazine's review of O to Be a Dragon included directions to Moore's apartment, which, in her own words, led to her being "obliterated by trespassers..I might say thugs! Letters upon letters also." ^[3]

Poems

• "O to Be a Dragon"
• "I May, I Might, I Must"
• "To a Chameleon"
• "A Jelly-Fish"
• "Values in Use"
• "Hometown Piece for Messrs. Alton and Reese"
• "Enough: Jamestown, 1607-1957"
• "Melchior Vulpis"
• "No Better Than a "Withered Daffodil""
• "In the Public Garden"
• "The Arctic Ox (or Goat)"
• "Saint Nicholas"
• "For February 14th"
• "Combat Cultural"
• "Leonardo da Vinci's"

References

1. Lawrence Rainey (15 July 2005). Modernism: An Anthology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 1160. ISBN   978-0-631-20448-0.
2. Darlene Williams Erickson (1992). Illusion and More Precise Then Precision: The Poetry of Marianne Moore. University of Alabama Press. p. 240. ISBN   978-0-8173-0570-3.
3. Linda Leavell (5 November 2013). Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore. Faber & Faber. p. 363. ISBN   978-0-571-30183-6.