Ashbery - Bianco

            In John Ashbery’s The tennis Court Oath, Ashbery experiments and pushes the limits of poetry.  Instead of focusing upon the continuity of a continued theme throughout the poem, Ashbery focuses upon associations to connect a variety of themes. In doing such, this makes the reader reconsider how one mentally connects one line of a poem to the next. Most poems use rhyme and a pattern to create a flowing image. However, Ashbery poems are disjointed in structure and create a collage of images. Ashbery does this through a focus on the structuralization, punctuation, and associations.

Ashbery pays particular attention to the rhyme and pattern of his poetry. For instance, most poems are divided into stanzas. Stanzas are a grouped set of lines with similar rhyme scheme. However, in Ashbery’s poems, he doesn’t group them in stanzas, but rather into separate divisions. In his poem Tennis Court Oath, such a division is represented through the insertion of conversational snippets, “in a moment the bell would ring but there was time/for the carnation laughed here are a couple of ‘other’/      to one in yon house  “(Ashbery 11). Between the last two lines, Ashbery divides the poem into sections with the insertion of the line “to one in yon house”. The conversational snippet demonstrates the disjointedness of the poem.

 This is fueled by the randomness of the punctuation used. Punctuation and grammar have become a societal standard, its what separates prose from poetry. Yet Ashbery defies the societal standard and randomly intermingles and uses punctuation to create tensions between the prose and poetry. For instance, in line 37 of the poem it states, “there was no turning back but the end was in sight” (Ashbery 12). Ashbery uses such statements of prose throughout the poem intertwining it with other lines such as line 39, which states, “The person. pleaded – ‘have more of these” (Ashbery 12). While the poem is disjointed due to structuralization, the tensions between prose and poetry create an intertwining narrative that leads the reader to question the themes of the poem. This is furthered by the development of associations throughout the poem. He uses specific words throughout the poem to create patterns of associations to create more of a collage of the imagery instead of a free flowing thought that most poems seem to incite. For instance, Ashbery uses particular words such as ‘blood’, ‘water’, and ‘drizzle’ to create an association of liquids and words such as ‘bloodied’ and ‘fears’ to create the association of violence. Through the usage of various associations in the poem, Ashbery contributes to the ongoing narrative as well as creates an overall collage of imagery.

            Yet through the careful construction of the poem, Ashbery creates a collage of images leading to the overall theme of regeneration. Ashbery begins such a theme through the symbolism of the darkness and leading up to the renewal through the imagery of the ‘lilacs’. For example, “darkness in the hole/the patient finished/They could all go home now the hole was dark/lilacs blowing across his face glad he brought you”(Ashbery 12). In the last statement “glad he brought you”, gives the reader an idea that whoever ‘he’ is he was hesitant beforehand but now he is ‘glad’. The language demonstrates an eventual renewal and regeneration, from the darkness there is light and from hesitation there is reassurance. Through the usage of associations, punctuation, and structuralization Ashbery focuses upon defying societal standards and demonstrating a new type of poetry.