Understanding John Ashbery requires the ability to immerse oneself into his work and fill in the gaps he doesn’t elaborate. He utilizes many conventional elements of poetry but breaks many “rules” along the way. The poems in his book The Shadow Train are concise, with no more than four stanzas of quatrains for each poem. But each one, offers substantial and interesting whimsical images in a fresh new way. His writing has a very lyrical quality to it and forces readers to visualize the specific eclectic images he brings forth. He breaks apart these images with provocative phrases and questions that seem almost reflective of life. Alice Quinn, a poetry editor for New Yorker comments, “I don’t feel like John should be pigeon holed into a particular school. I think he demonstrates more what poetic thinking is. He manages to capture a lot of the palpable feeling of being alive in his writing.” His poems seem to emulate thoughts in a stream of consciousness, never staying in one place for too long.
Those who do not appreciate Ashbery’s unique writing might consider him scattered in his thoughts, and difficult to understand. Those who feel this way lack the point of what Ashbery tries to achieve in his work. The art of Ashbery’s poetry is in the lack of his concreteness. It is challenging to the reader, yet strangely inviting. The techniques he uses in his quatrains create a version of poetry that emphasizes the overall aesthetic of the piece versus a definite plot line. In “Frontispiece”, he describes rain as “the profile of the day” that “wears its soul like a hat”(46). In “The Leasing of September”, it begins with the phrase “the sleeping map lay green” (32). Obviously, these phrases make no tangible sense especially because often they don’t explicitly contextualized in the poem, but Ashbery uses them in such a way that it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. He forces the reader to appreciate the image on it’s own rather than it’s place in the story. The magic of his writing is in his ability to make the reader decide that the cohesive meaning is only secondary to the word play.
Along with Ashbery’s fantastical images of blue taxis, dreams with gold flecks, and rosy-fingered dawns, he plants in sporadic “isms” on life . Although the thoughts are not always finished, these quotes often provide provocative questions and force readers to stop and think about the emotions. “The Absence of a Noble Presence” gives the classic Ashbery-like feel in the third stanza:
“You’ve got to remember we don’t see that much.
We see a portion of eaves dripping in the pastel book
And are aware that everything doesn’t count equally-
There is a dreaminess and infection in the sum.”
This stanza exemplifies the combination of images and “isms” on life that Ashbery uses throughout Shadow Train. Debating the precise appearance of “eaves dripping in the pastel book” takes away from the bigger purpose of the images. The fourth and final stanza of this poem seems to finish his thought:
“And since this too is of our everydays
It matters only to the one you are next to
This time, giving you a ride to the station.
It foretells itself, not the hiccup you both notice.”
One can speculate the meaning of these sentiments in multiple ways. Perhaps the ride to the station as opposed to the hiccup refers to the idea of being present with friends instead of focusing on the “hiccups”, or negatives of life. Perhaps the juxtaposition is rather, a negative comment on how people ignore all the “hiccups” that they “both notice” in a way of coping with tragedies in life. The message of the poem can change each time it is read, making endless possibilities for the reader to experience. The point isn’t for the poem to make complete sense, but for the reader to appreciate the way Ashbery plays with words. He succeeds in capturing the moment and depicting it with his unique diction, portraying his mastery of intonation (still not happy with that word, but your choice)in his distinctive way.
Ashbery reaches out to his readers and pulls in the attention through his use of the second person point of view and enjambments. In the stanzas from “The Absence of a Normal Presence” he uses the word “you” to bring readers into the action and make the poem personal. It also surprises readers, because it’s not a common person to use and offers a new perspective. Additionally, the enjambments he uses brings the readers to the next line and also breaks up the sentence to add more intensity. Nonetheless, both these techniques further engage readers into Ashbery’s lair.
Ashbery’s works are not for a simple reading; It is for the finely attuned ear . Those who appreciate poetry for it’s emotive qualities will enjoy Ashbery’s poetry exponentially more than the sticklers who are more concerned with old fashioned meter and proper form. Personally, I find Ashbery’s mastery over words very impressive and I only hope to emulate his sensory images and multidimensional messages he has transcribed. I only aspire to succeed in breaking literary rules like he doesand I strongly recommend his work to those willing to experiment with poetry and experience something different from the norm.
Works Cited
http://observer.com/2013/01/the-meaning-of-all-this-talking-to-john-ashbery-about-his-past-present-and-future/
