16 pages • 32 minutes read
Marianne MooreA Jelly-Fish
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1909A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Jellyfish
As something that changes its form and even seems to disappear depending on the angle of observation, the jellyfish symbolizes mutability. This was a subject of fascination for modernists, as expressed by Joyce in Ulysses’ memorable phrase, “the ineluctable modality of the visible,” meaning vision is limited because it is only one mode of perception. Moore uses the jellyfish to highlight the human tendency to see their desires reflected back at them, referring to the creature as “A fluctuating charm / An amber-colored amethyst” (Lines 2-3). In these lines, the jellyfish becomes something very different—a precious stone bringing good fortune—yet, as the subsequent lines reveal, this is an illusion. It is almost as if the jellyfish toys with its human observer, and Murphy suggests a parallel between the jellyfish and the monstrous, alien-like creatures of the novelist H. P. Lovecraft (Murphy, Sean. “Poetry Spotlight: ‘A Jelly-Fish’ and ‘The Fish’ by Marianne Moore,” Pulitzer, 2021). While this comparison may be a stretch (the poem’s jellyfish harms no one), the creature has a menacing quality that suggests it deserves respect.
The Sea
The sea symbolizes the unknown—an untamable force of nature that has been used in literature since classical times. Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey famously recounts an oceanic voyage as the hero, Odysseus, returns from the Trojan War to the island of Ithaca. On his way, the sea presents multiple perils, including whirlpools, shipwrecks, and sea creatures both real and mythical. Moore focuses more on the jellyfish, waiting until the last five lines to draw attention to the vastness of the sea in which the creature is at home: “The blue / Surrounding it / Grows cloudy, and / It floats away / From you” (Lines 15-20). The effect highlights that the sea is home for the creature but not for the human; like the jellyfish, it exists in opposition to the human desire for absolute, dominating perception.
The Arm
As the primary focus of the “You” of the poem, the arm symbolizes human agency. Simply through the words, “your arm / Approaches” (Lines 4-5), the poem implies the desire to capture; “approaches” conveys the movement’s deliberate or even a military character. There is, however, a double-meaning of “arm” (Line 4) as a weapon as well as the observer’s limb; the pun is a subtle allusion to humanity’s aggression against nature. This undertone encourages understanding and sympathy for the jellyfish’s reaction, which seems defensive. Arms, in the military sense, were very much in the public discourse in this period; countries including the U. S. spent heavily on their military might. An interpretation that is closer to the poet’s lived experience, however, recognizes that Moore’s engineer father severed his own hand following a mental health crisis. While it is unwise to read biographical events directly into a poem without cause for doing so, the disembodied character of the arm in “A Jelly-Fish” hints at dark possibilities, where a limb has the capacity to act but is not necessarily connected to rational thought.
