---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ...when dragged into prominence by half…"
description: "\"“...when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, nor till the poets among us can be \"literalists of the imagination\" --above i..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/marianne-moore-3315_poetry_when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poe_1652495.png"
---

#  ...when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result…

![“...when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, nor till the poets among us can be &quot;literalists of the imagination&quot; --above insolence and triviality and can present for inspection, &quot;imaginary gardens with real toads in them,&quot; shall we have it.” quote by Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/marianne-moore-3315_poetry_when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poe_1652495.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/marianne-moore-3315_poetry_when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poe_1652495.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/marianne-moore-3315_poetry_when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poe_1652495.png)

> ““...when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, nor till the poets among us can be "literalists of the imagination" --above insolence and triviality and can present for inspection, "imaginary gardens with real toads in them," shall we have it.””

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Poets must avoid pretension and instead blend imagination with concrete reality, creating vivid, grounded imagery.

**In simple terms:** Poets should mix imagination with real details.

Key Takeaway

Seek authentic, tangible expression.

Themes

creativity authenticity imagination

Mood

reflective thoughtful

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- writing workshops
- literary criticism
- teaching poetry
- personal reflection

Key Concepts

literalism imaginary gardens realism

Questions to Reflect On

- How can you ground imaginative ideas in reality?
- What does “literalist of the imagination” mean to you?

A Different Perspective

May be too abstract for some readers.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Half Poets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/half-poets-668506/) [Imagination Insolence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imagination-insolence-668509/) [Literalists Imagination](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literalists-imagination-668507/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poets Literalists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets-literalists-668505/) [Poets Result](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets-result-668508/)

## Related quotes

> [Not till the poets among us can be "literalists of the imagination"-above insolence and triviality and can present for inspection, "imaginary gardens with real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/not-till-the-poets-among-us-can-be-literalists-of-the-imagination/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [For poets (bear the word) Half-poets even, are still whole democrats.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-barrett-browning/for-poets-bear-the-word-half-poets-even-are-still-whole-democrats/)

[Elizabeth Barrett Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-barrett-browning/)

> [“Literalists of the imagination”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-ann-moore/literalists-of-the-imagination/)

[Mary Ann Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-ann-moore/)

> [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/)

[James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/)

> [All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/all-lyrical-work-must-as-a-whole-be-perfectly-intelligible-but-in/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [You don’t read or overhear the voice in the poem, you are the voice in the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-vendler/you-don-t-read-or-overhear-the-voice-in-the-poem-you-are-the-voice-in/)

[Helen Vendler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-vendler/)

> [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/)

[Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/)

> [“In the streets, the children scream, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed,” he crooned, putting down the metal grill tongs to take my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandria-clarke/in-the-streets-the-children-scream-the-lovers-cried-and-the-poets/)

[Alexandria Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandria-clarke/)

> [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/)

[Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/)

> [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/)

[David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/)

> [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/)

[Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/)

> [The name Phenomenal Woman was inspired by Maya Angelo, who wrote 'Phenomenal Woman', a favorite poem of mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meena-harris/the-name-phenomenal-woman-was-inspired-by-maya-angelo-who-wrote/)

[Meena Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meena-harris/)

> [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/)

[Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/)

## More by Marianne Moore

> [When one is frank, one's very presence is a compliment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-one-is-frank-one-s-very-presence-is-a-compliment/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [One writes because one has a burning desire to objectify what it is indispensable to one's happiness to express.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/one-writes-because-one-has-a-burning-desire-to-objectify-what-it-is/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Victory won't come to me unless I go to it; a grape tendril ties a knot in knots till knotted thirty times](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/victory-won-t-come-to-me-unless-i-go-to-it-a-grape-tendril-ties-a/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [The deepest feeling always shows itself in silence; not in silence, but restraint.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/the-deepest-feeling-always-shows-itself-in-silence-not-in-silence-but/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [“Do the poet and scientist not work analogously? Both are willing to waste effort. To be hard on himself is one ...of the main…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/do-the-poet-and-scientist-not-work-analogously-both-are-willing-to/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Camels are snobbish and sheep, unintelligent; water buffaloes, neurasthenic-- even murderous. Reindeer seem over-serious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/camels-are-snobbish-and-sheep-unintelligent-water-buffaloes/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [When one cannot appraise out of one's own experience, the temptation to blunder is minimized, but even when one can, appraisal seems chiefly useful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-one-cannot-appraise-out-of-one-s-own-experience-the-temptation/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [The hands are the heart's messengers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/the-hands-are-the-heart-s-messengers/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [I believe verbal felicity is the fruit of ardor, of diligence, and of refusing to be false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/i-believe-verbal-felicity-is-the-fruit-of-ardor-of-diligence-and-of/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Conscious writing can be the death of poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/conscious-writing-can-be-the-death-of-poetry/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Only imagination that towers can reproduce evanescence and render rigidity flexible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/only-imagination-that-towers-can-reproduce-evanescence-and-render/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [Revision is its own reward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/revision-is-its-own-reward/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [In a poem the excitement has to maintain itself. I am governed by the pull of the sentence as the pull of a fabric…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/in-a-poem-the-excitement-has-to-maintain-itself-i-am-governed-by-the/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [All are / naked, none is safe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/all-are-naked-none-is-safe/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

> [It is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/it-is-human-nature-to-stand-in-the-middle-of-a-thing/)

[Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

[Explore all 134 Marianne Moore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/)

## More Poetry quotes

> [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/)

[Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/)

> [The name Phenomenal Woman was inspired by Maya Angelo, who wrote 'Phenomenal Woman', a favorite poem of mine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meena-harris/the-name-phenomenal-woman-was-inspired-by-maya-angelo-who-wrote/)

[Meena Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meena-harris/)

> [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/)

[Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/)

> [“Time gives poetry to a battlefield...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/time-gives-poetry-to-a-battlefield/)

[Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/)

> [The poetry from the eighteenth century was prose; the prose from the seventeenth century was poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hare/the-poetry-from-the-eighteenth-century-was-prose-the-prose-from-the/)

[David Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hare/)

> [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/)

[Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/)

> [The word 'mundane' has come to mean 'boring' and 'dull', and it really shouldn't - it should mean the opposite. Because it comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/the-word-mundane-has-come-to-mean-boring-and-dull-and-it-really/)

[Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/)

> [“In the streets, the children scream, the lovers cried, and the poets dreamed,” he crooned, putting down the metal grill tongs to take my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexandria-clarke/in-the-streets-the-children-scream-the-lovers-cried-and-the-poets/)

[Alexandria Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexandria-clarke/)

> [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/)

[Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/)

> [You don’t read or overhear the voice in the poem, you are the voice in the poem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-vendler/you-don-t-read-or-overhear-the-voice-in-the-poem-you-are-the-voice-in/)

[Helen Vendler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-vendler/)

> [All lyrical work must, as a whole, be perfectly intelligible, but in some particulars a little unintelligible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/all-lyrical-work-must-as-a-whole-be-perfectly-intelligible-but-in/)

[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/)

> [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/)

[James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/)

> [I was interested in all kinds of things, whether it be Avatar, Mad Men, Troy, 300, Battlestar Gallactica, or the poems of Horace and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/i-was-interested-in-all-kinds-of-things-whether-it-be-avatar-mad-men/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/)

[anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/)

> [“Things are more like they are now...than they have EVER been before!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uncle-arnie-mamath/things-are-more-like-they-are-now-than-they-have-ever-been-before/)

[Uncle Arnie Mamath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/uncle-arnie-mamath/)

[Browse all 21,625 Poetry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“...when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, nor till the poets among us can be \"literalists of the imagination\" --above insolence and triviality and can present for inspection, \"imaginary gardens with real toads in them,\" shall we have it.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Marianne Moore"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poets-the-result-is-not-poetry/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Poetry"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poets-the-result-is-not-poetry/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/marianne-moore-3315_poetry_when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poe_1652495.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/marianne-moore-3315_poetry_when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poe_1652495.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4a/marianne-moore-3315_poetry_when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poe_1652495.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“...when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry, nor till the poets among us can be…” — Marianne Moore",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Marianne Moore",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“...when dragged into prominence by half...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poets-the-result-is-not-poetry/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/when-dragged-into-prominence-by-half-poets-the-result-is-not-poetry/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
