Too close for comfort …

… Badger, Mole, and Marianne Moore by Helen Vendler | The New York Review of Books. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

There were moments when Moore could have escaped, but she turned down such opportunities as came her way. She was never known to fall in love, have an affair, or contemplate marriage. Her mother, by playing the orphan child, by turning Marianne into a male (“he”), and by sleeping with her, had in effect made Marianne the man of the house. And the hovering protectiveness of Warner and Marianne confirmed this folie à trois.