Apparition of Splendor

ELIZABETH GREGORY is a Taylor Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies and Professor of English at the University of Houston, directing the Women's Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of Houston. She is the author of Ready: Why Women Are Embracing the New Later Motherhood and Quotation and Modern American Poetry: "'Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads.'"

"Apparition of Splendor is brilliant and necessary. It provides an extended look at Marianne Moore's late poetry that no other book-length study has taken on…. Gregory's deep expertise is evident throughout. Her discussions make visible startling networks of connections between poems, and – while maintaining keen focus on the late poems – briskly but sensitively draw upon the earlier poems to clarify continuities and suggest transformations. Her archival and extra-literary research, in Moore's papers and in regard to general cultural contexts, is wonderfully on display with every page.The subject of Moore's late poetry is woefully understudied, and this book will conduct an important intervention in critical tendencies to dismiss this body of work. Apparition of Splendor is a major contribution to Moore studies and to studies of 20th-century American poetry."— Linda Kinnahan, Duquesne University, author of Feminist Modernism, Poetics, and the New Economy: Mina Loy, Lola Ridge, and Marianne Moore"Apparition of Splendor serves as an important academic resource for Moore's researchers as well as an enjoyable introductory reading for new readers. Gregory offers a brief introduction to Moore's early life and also sheds light on her early writing techniques in the "Appendix" for the benefit of those who are not familiar with the poet's life and works. It is also a valuable groundwork for Moore's scholars, especially for its thoughtprovoking critical reappraisal of the later period of her oeuvre."— Yuxuan Wu, Rutgers State University of New Jersey, Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies

• Acknowledgments                                  Abbreviations                                       Illustrations                                        Introduction—Democracy, Celebrity, Poetry                        Chapter One—"Apparition of Splendor": Poet as Performance            Chapter Two—Sports Poetry: Populism, Race, and the Ethics of Celebration    Chapter Three—Occasional Work: Culture, Spirit, Community            Chapter Four—Embracing Affect: Love, Interest, and the Personal            Chapter Five—"Still Leafing": Age, Activism, Immortality                Epilogue—"Correspondances": Ma–Ray–Andy                     Appendix—The Retrospect, Moore's Shifting Texts, and Her Archive        About the Author                                    Endnotes                                         Bibliography