"Hands that can grasp, eyes / that can dilate, hair that can rise / if it must"
These things are genuine, instinctive actions and things that may not be inspiring to many poets interested in manipulating and piquing their readers with "fiddle." There is no "high-sounding interpretation" to be had here. Harold Bloom notes, "The actions suggest response and engagement, signals of the genuine at work. They are useful because they are real and active, regardless of whatever high-minded explication someone wants to give them." There is nothing abstract or manipulated here, nor is there anything particularly beautiful or inspiring.
"imaginary gardens with real toads in them"
This is a fascinating phrase that seems to be the work of Moore's mind alone. It may mean several things. First, the frog is an ugly creature so it may be that the more "genuine" and "raw" material of poetry is what appeals to her. Second, as critic Elizabeth Joyce says, the line "explains the force of imagination necessary for poets to avoid uselessness. They must, in order to be able to write authentic poetry, create a world in their minds that appears to be real. The toads, then, are the fabrications of the artist and are so highly refined by the artist's imagination that they have become tangible; the toads are the result of the artist's attempt to render the abstract into the concrete..." The garden is poetry, the toads its "raw" and "genuine" material of it.
"I, too, dislike it"
This is arguably one of the most famous lines in modernist poetry. It drips with irony, though with a light touch. This is a poem and Moore is a poet, so why is she denigrating the art form? Her casual and insouciant opening line is her way to first surprise us, then follow up with why she believes what she believes. The reader can tell she has a sense of humor but she is also quite serious. Furthermore, she almost contradicts this line because as the poem continues it is clear that she does not dislike all poetry but rather the work of hackneyed "half poets" and those "autocrats" who are bogged down in "triviality."
