Marianne Moore "To a Snail"

“but the principle that is hid:
in the absence of feet, “a method of conclusions”;
“a knowledge of principals”
in the curious phenomenon of your occipital horn.” (9-12, 446)

Marianne Moore’s poem titled “To a Snail”, made me think of something completely different than an actual snail. The language and ideas proposed in the poem made me see it as a way of Moore arguing the “correct” ways of ending a poem. I can picture Moore questioning the accepted notions of how poetry should be written and using this poem as a form of an amusingly written overall issue of what is considered good poetry. In the above lines, the poet is referring to one of the fundamental issues in poetry, which deals with how to end a poem. Moore goes on to say that a snail having no feet is one way to end it; or in this context, simply not having a conclusion at all is a way to end a poem.
I once read in an essay by Elisabeth W. Joyce that the lines, “A knowledge of principals”/ in the curious phenomenon of your occipital horn”, show that the purpose of the poem is as unusual as the constantly reacting projections out of the snail’s head. Just like the snail’s antennas alter its protrusions with completely submerging into the snail and then peeking back out, the purpose of a poem can be easily apparent through clear analysis, or it can submerge within the poem and into the poem’s surface. Moore uses a very fine poetic style to speak about culture and voices out her opinions by concealing her disapproval of poetic rules through a humorous image.
The entire poem moves along like a snail’s antennas as the lines go from long, to shorter, and short, and so on. This notion could be used to represent the fact that there are many ways, not just one, to write poetry and express poetic ideas. Instead of keeping up with a certain acquired regulation, Moore gives an example of how much more rewarding experiencing with language and its forms could be.