Books: Poems for the Eye

COLLECTED POEMS (180 pp.)—Marianne Moore—Macmillan ($3).

Marianne Moore is a spinster who has lived on the same quiet Brooklyn street for more than 20 years. Strolling through nearby Ft. Greene Park, she might easily be mistaken for somebody's grandma. But as she goes about her calm daily routine, her mind is often busy arranging words with the grace with which the Japanese arrange flowers: Marianne Moore is just about the most accomplished poetess alive.

At 64, Marianne Moore is offering her small but fervent public a collected view of her poetic garden. Nothing quite like it has ever been seen before. Through its...