Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Mina Loy’s "Moreover the Moon" is a brief but intensely charged meditation on the moon’s influence over human perception, sensation, and transformation. The poem’s structure, with its compact, enjambed lines and abrupt shifts in imagery, reflects the moon’s ethereal and elusive nature. Loy’s language, at once scientific and lyrical, moves between celestial observation and bodily reaction, creating a vision of the moon as both a luminous corpse and a force of unsettling enchantment.

The poem opens with an invocation: "Face of the skies / preside / over our wonder." Here, the moon is personified as a "face," a presence that watches over human awe. The choice of "preside" suggests authority, as though the moon governs the emotional and imaginative reactions of those who gaze upon it. The phrase "our wonder" positions humanity in a state of reverence, reinforcing the moon’s role as an object of fascination and mystery.

The second stanza, "Fluorescent / truant of heaven / draw us under," shifts the tone. The moon is described as "fluorescent," a term that suggests artificial, almost unnatural brightness, emphasizing its cold and detached luminescence. The phrase "truant of heaven" is particularly striking, framing the moon as a rebellious, wandering celestial body—an exile from the divine, drifting beyond its proper bounds. The imperative "draw us under" suggests that despite its distance, the moon exerts a gravitational pull, an influence that drags humanity into its sphere of power. This pull is not necessarily gentle; there is an undertone of compulsion in the command.

The next image—"Silver, circular corpse / your decease / infects us with unendurable ease,"—recasts the moon as something dead, a "corpse" rather than a luminous entity. The word "silver" retains a sense of beauty, but "corpse" immediately strips it of warmth, associating the moon’s light with death rather than life. "Your decease" frames the moon not as something living but as something whose death is still active, still affecting those who observe it. The phrase "infects us with unendurable ease" is paradoxical—the infection spreads effortlessly, but its effect is overwhelming. The choice of "infects" suggests contamination, as if exposure to the moon’s presence alters those who experience it.

Loy then shifts into a description of physical sensation: "touching nerve-terminals / to thermal icicles." This scientific language—"nerve-terminals"—contrasts with the more poetic and mystical language of earlier lines, bringing the moon’s influence into the realm of the body. The juxtaposition of "thermal icicles" heightens the paradox of sensation: something that should bring warmth instead delivers coldness. The phrase evokes a nerve-jolting chill, reinforcing the idea that the moon’s power is simultaneously seductive and painful, drawing humanity into a state of suspended, icy awareness.

The next lines continue this interplay of opposites: "Coercive as coma, frail as bloom." The moon’s influence is described as "coercive," suggesting force or compulsion, yet it is compared to a "coma," which implies stillness, unconsciousness, a state of powerlessness. At the same time, it is "frail as bloom," a phrase that introduces delicacy, fleetingness, and organic growth. This duality—strength and frailty, force and ephemerality—characterizes the moon’s effect as something both overwhelming and intangible, both oppressive and fleeting.

The final lines—"innuendoes of your inverse dawn / suffuse the self; / our every corpuscle become an elf."—expand the poem’s surreal, transformative quality. "Innuendoes of your inverse dawn" suggests that the moon’s light is not straightforward illumination but rather a kind of whispered suggestion, a hidden influence. The term "inverse dawn" reinforces the idea that moonlight is an unnatural, reversed form of daylight, something shadowy and indirect rather than clarifying. This influence "suffuse[s] the self," dissolving individuality into something otherworldly. The closing image—"our every corpuscle become an elf."—is a striking leap. "Corpuscle" refers to the smallest bodily components—blood cells, microscopic elements of the self—suggesting that the moon alters perception at a fundamental, biological level. The transformation into "elves" introduces a sense of enchantment, as if exposure to the moonlight diminishes human solidity, turning the body into something fey, insubstantial, and otherworldly.

"Moreover the Moon" is a poem of paradoxes: the moon is both luminous and lifeless, coercive and frail, scientific and mystical. It is both celestial and infectious, drawing the speaker and humanity into a transformation that is at once chilling and enchanting. Loy’s compact, suggestive language creates an atmosphere of unease, where the moon’s presence alters the very fabric of the self. The poem resists traditional romanticism, presenting the moon not as a symbol of beauty or love but as a force that destabilizes, unmoors, and reshapes perception. In the end, the self is not destroyed but dispersed—turned into something small, elfin, enchanted, and ultimately, irreversibly changed.

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