Marianne Moore (1887–1972)

Marianne Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, near St. Louis, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. Her father, John Milton Moore, suffered a psychotic episode before she was born, and her parents separated at that time; Moore never met him. She and her elder brother were raised by their mother, Mary Warner Moore in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1909, she earned a BA in biology from Bryn Mawr College, and her early poems were first published in the college’s literary magazines. After graduation, Moore studied at Carlisle Commercial College and taught at the U.S. Indian School there. Moore and her mother, who were devoted to each other, moved to New York City in 1918 and Moore began working at the New York Public Library in 1921. Her first book Poems was published in London in 1921. From 1925 to 1929, she was the editor of the influential literary magazine
The Dial, a role that expanded her circle of literary acquaintances and introduced her work to a more international audience. She was particularly fond of animals and much of her imagery was drawn from the natural world. Her Collected Poems (1951) won both the Pulitzer Prize in poetry and the National Book Award, and in 1953 she was awarded the Bollingen Prize. Her prose works included Predilections (1955), a volume of literary criticism, and Idiosyncrasy and Technique: Two Lectures (1958). Her many honors and awards included the Poetry Society of America's Gold Medal for Distinguished Development and the National Medal for Literature.