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To A Snail

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If “compression is the first grace of style”,

you have it. Contractility is a virtue

as modesty is a virtue.

It is not the acquisition of any one thing

that is able to adorn,

or the incidental quality that occurs

as a concomitant of something well said,

that we value in style,

but the principle that is hid:

in the absence of feet, “a method of conclusions”;

“a knowledge of principles”,

in the curious phenomenon of your occipital horn.

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a un caracol

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Si “la condensación es la principal gracia del estilo”,

tú la tienes. Lo contráctil es una virtud,

del mismo modo que lo es la modestia.

No es la adquisición de alguna cosa

que sirva de adorno,

o la casual cualidad que acontece

en conjunción con algo bien dicho

lo que apreciamos en el estilo,

sino el principio oculto:

a falta de pies, “un método de conclusiones”;

“un conocimiento de los principios”

en el curioso fenómeno de tu cuerno occipital.

–

Marianne Moore

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A un caracol

poetryx.com/poetry/poems/8793/

From Observations

The Dial Press, 1924

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