The Meaning of What Are Years? by Marianne Moore :: Poems, Poetry Analysis

In the poem What Are Years?, Moore clear expresses her perception of life.Moore states that no cardinal can truly understand the constitution of their guilt or innocence. Everyone is naked to the dangers of existence. Moore defines courage as resolute doubt, having the ability, or the the strength of spirit, to keep dismission even when defeated. To be strong, one must accept their own mortality. One must accept the earthly concern of death and yet keep fighting to live. Although we are all engrossed in a world of mortality, we must fight every sidereal day to give meaning to our life. We must live as if we were never going to dieMoore begins the last stanza with an ambiguous So. Although one has a heightened sentience of mortality, one behaves, one keeps the ego disciplined. This is the same concept as that of the caged dame who, though held captive in a cruelly small space, continues to prattle with all his heart. Despite the birds lack of satisfaction because of his loss of flight and freedom, he knows joy.