Question

What does Marianne Moore mean when she says "imaginary gardens with real toads in them" in this excerpt from "Poetry"?

Answer 1

Answer: Poets have the difficult task of incorporating real emotions and facts into the settings they imagine.

Marianne Moore was part of the imagist movement, and she advocated the use of extremely real elements in the imaginary settings that poetry produces. She believed that the difficult task of the poem was to add these very real themes (the real toads) that resonate will all humans into their fanciful, imaginary worlds (the imaginary gardens). This is the only way in which poetry would become genuine.

Answer 2

She was an imagist and wanted everything to be described in vivid sensory detail. She believes that although the gardens are imaginary in poetry, the toads should be described and depicted so thoroughly that they almost seem real and tangible and are vivid.