John Ashbery creates a lot of his poems by using word or phrase associations, which are not always as clear to the reader. Because of this, there are phrases and meaning which we can not necessarily know if we are relating them correctly. An example of a poem where we can see his word associations is in “A Life Drama.” The beginning of this poem, talks a lot about being in a factory and the imagery in each line helps set the scene for this factory people work in.
In the first stanza, the lines, “Of cigar. The helium burned/ All but the man. And the / Child. The heart. Moron,” refer to the feelings and people of a factory setting (39). The style of writing and technique used for separating lines is very interesting to me. Most poems I have read have usually had a meaning or phrase with each line. Yet Ashbery’s style of splitting up certain phrases into multiple lines makes the poem come together in a more choppy or rugged manner. With this particular example, the first sentence just mentions a cigar, which brings the imagery of smoke and and cigar smell to mind. If Ashbery would have included a very long and detailed description, perhaps the meaning or visualization of the object would have diluted in intensity. The most relevant example of this sort of discontinuity occurs in the next line where the start of the sentence “And the Child” gets split into two. There specifically the line is leaving you for a brief moment to anticipate what comes next. Then when the “Child. The heart. Moron” is introduced, there is an effect of significance and then associations try to appear.
There were some associations like the dark air, the cigar smoke, and helium that all to me were descriptive of an old factory environment. They made me think about rust and dirt in the air. Then it brings up the man, which I assume would be the people who work in the factory. The author is making some sort of exception to the heavy atmosphere, and saying that all is dark but the man, the child, the heart and the moron. I got the feeling that there was some sort of deeper meaning behind the men who work here. There has to be more to their character, perhaps their child-like spirit, the heart of the men who are willing and able to work, and even maybe those who are not as competent but are able to contribute to the environment. These particular lines of the poem, definitely stood out to me because of their strong discontinuity, their associations with a factory setting and the powerful imagery and choice of words.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this blog post. I strongly agree with your comment about how Ashbery “creates a lot of his poems by using word or phrase associations, which are not always as clear to the reader.” When I read The Tennis Court Oath, I definitely struggled with interpreting a lot of the meanings in his work. I think he has some moments of strong continuity in his work, such as some of the lines in his poem, “Europe.” Like we talked about in class, Ashbery likes to use similar language in different parts of his poem. This could be his way of trying to achieve continuity in a non-traditional sort of way. I think that his poems are very non-traditional to begin with, so this makes sense and is very fitting that he would choose to do this method. At the same time, I feel like he is rejecting continuity by his visual style on the page. Like you talked about with his style of separating lines and even with his placement of words on the page, there is something very choppy and non-linear about his work. I think that this is very cool that he does this and the fact that sometimes his lines do connect to other lines in the poem, despite his visual style, is very unique. I think, to some degree, he achieves and doesn’t achieve continuity, because visually continuity is not there but when one reads closer, one could start to see some of the parallels and linear areas.
I completely agree with your observations about Ashbery’s writing style and how he relies very heavily on word and phrase associations. I noticed this in a lot of his poems because as I was reading, even though it was hard for me to notice a specific message or meaning in his poems, I noticed how even though they seemed like complete nonsense, there was one central theme that brought the whole poem together. And then after our discussion about how certain topics are carried though in several of his poems in class it became so much more clear how themes such as War and Darkness keep making reappearances throughout the entire book. I did not notice this the first time I read the book but once it was pointed out in class all of a sudden it seemed to give Ashbey’s poems a different meaning. It was like his poems went from being choppy nonsense to thematic phrases that culminated throughout the entire book. He used continuity in themes to bring together all of his various pieces to give the entire book a new meaning. Even though none of his poems seem to fit together, his use of repetition and similar central themes played a role in bringing the book together. Not only does Ashbery use word associations in specific poems but he also uses them to bring continuity to his book as a means of somehow tying all the poems together.
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