John Ashbery

b. 1927

John Ashbery is recognized as one of the greatest twentieth-century American poets. He has won nearly every major American award for poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize, the ational !oo" Award, the #ale #ounger Poets Prize, the !ollingen Prize, the $uth %illy Poetry Prize, the &riffin 'nternational Award, and a (acArthur )&enius* &rant. Ashbery+s poetry challenges its readers to discard all presumptions about the aims, themes, and stylistic scaffolding of verse in favor of a literature that reflects upon the limits of language and the volatility of consciousness. 'n the New Criterion, ,illiam %ogan noted- ./ew poets have so cleverly manipulated, or just plain tortured, our soiled desire for meaning. 0Ashbery1 reminds us that most poets who give us meaning don+t "now what they+re tal"ing about.. 2he New York Times Book Review essayist 3tephen 4och characterized Ashbery+s voice as .a hushed, simultaneously incomprehensible and intelligent whisper with a weird pulsating rhythm that fluctuates li"e a wave between pea"s of sharp clarity and watery droughts of obscurity and languor.. Ashbery5s first boo", Some Trees 6789:; won the #ale #ounger Poets Prize. 2he competition was judged by ,.H. Auden, who famously confessed later that he hadn5t understood a word of the winning manuscript. Ashbery published a spate of successful and influential collections in the 78:<s and =><s, including The Tennis Court Oath678:?;, The Double Dream of Spring 678><;, Self- ortrait in a Conve! "irror 678>9; and #ouseboat Da$s 678>>;. Self- ortrait in a Conve! "irror, considered by many to be Ashbery5s masterpiece, won the Pulitzer Prize, the ational !oo" Award, and the ational !oo" @ritics @ircle Award, an unprecedented triplecrown in the literary world. Assentially a meditation on /rancesco Parmigianino5s painting .3elf-Portrait in a @onveB (irror,. the narrative poem showcases the influence of visual art on Ashbery5s style, as well as introducing one of his major subjects- the nature of the creative act, particularly as it applies to the writing of poetry. 2his is also, as Peter 3titt noted, a major theme of #ouseboat Da$s, a volume acclaimed by (arjorie Perloff in%ashington ost Book %orl& as .the most eBciting, most original boo" of poems to have appeared in the 78><s.. 3titt maintained in the 'eorgia Review that .Ashbery has come to write, in the poet+s most implicitly ironic gesture, almost eBclusively about his own poems, the ones he is writing as he writes about them.. $oger 3hattuc" made a similar point in the New York Review of Books( . early every poem in #ouseboat Da$s shows that Ashbery+s phenomenological eye fiBes itself not so much on ordinary living and doing as on the specific act of composing a poemC2hus every poem becomes an ars poetica of its own condition.. @ritics have noted how Ashbery+s verse has ta"en shape under the influence of abstract eBpressionism, a movement in modern painting stressing nonrepresentational methods of picturing reality. .(odern art was the first and most powerful influence on Ashbery,. Helen (c eil declared in the Times )iterar$ Supplement* .,hen he began to write in the 789<s, American poetry was constrained and formal while American abstract-eBpressionist art was vigorously ta"ing over the heroic responsibilities of the Auropean avant garde.. 2rue to this influence, Ashbery+s poems, according to /red (oramarco in the +ournal of "o&ern )iterature, are a .verbal canvas. upon which the poet freely applies the techniDues of eBpressionism. Ashbery+s eBperience as an art critic in /rance during the 789<s and =:<s, and in ew #or" for magazines li"e New York and the artisan Review strengthened his ties to abstract eBpressionism. !ut Ashbery+s poetry, as critics have observed, has evolved under a variety of influences besides modern art, becoming in the end the eBpression of a voice unmista"ably his own. Ashbery5s influences include the $omantic tradition in American poetry that progressed from ,hitman to ,allace 3tevens, the so-called . ew #or" 3chool of Poets. featuring contemporaries such as /ran" E+Hara and 4enneth 4och, and the /rench surrealist writers with whom Ashbery has dealt in his wor" as a critic and translator.

Ashbery+s styleFself-refleBive, multi-phonic, vaguely narrative, full of both pop culture and high allusionFhas become .so influential

that its imitators are legion,. Helen Gendler observed in the New Yorker* Although even his strongest supporters admit that his poetry is often difficult to read and willfully difficult to understand, many critics have commented on the manner in which Ashbery+s fluid style conveys a major concern in his poetry- the refusal to impose an arbitrary order on a world of fluB and chaos. 'n his verse, Ashbery attempts to mirror the stream of perceptions of which human consciousness is composed. His poetry is open-ended and multi-various because life itself is, he told !ryan Appleyard in the %ondon Times( .' don+t find any direct statements in life. (y poetry imitates or reproduces the way "nowledge or awareness come to me, which is by fits and starts and by indirection. ' don+t thin" poetry arranged in neat patterns would reflect that situation. (y poetry is disjunct, but then so is life.. His poems move, often without continuity, from one image to the neBt, prompting some critics to praise his eBpressionist techniDue and others to accuse him of producing art that is unintelligible, even meaningless. Ashbery5s poetryFand its influence on younger poetsFremains controversial because of just this split in critical opinion- some critics laud what Paul Auster described in#arper,s as Ashbery5s )ability to undermine our certainties, to articulate so fully the ambiguous zones of our consciousness,* while others deplore his obscurantism and insist that his poems, made up of anything and everything, can mean anything and everything. $eflecting upon the critical response to his poem, .%itany,. Ashbery once told Contemporar$ -uthors, .'+m Duite puzzled by my wor" too, along with a lot of other people. ' was always intrigued by it, but at the same time a little apprehensive and sort of embarrassed about annoying the same critics who are always annoyed by my wor". '+m "ind of sorry that ' cause so much grief.. ,.3. Hi Piero described the reaction of critics to Ashbery+s style as .amusing. En the one hand are those who berate him for lac"ing the AudenesDue +censor+ 6that little editing machine in a poet+s head which deletes all superfluous materials; or who accuse him of simply being willfully and unreasonably perverse. En the other hand are those reviewers who, Dueerly enough, praise the difficulty of Ashbery+s verse as if difficulty were a positive literary value in itself, while ignoring what the poet is saying.. Helen Gendler offered her summary of the debate in the New Yorker( .'t is Ashbery+s style that has obsessed reviewers, as they alternately wrestle with its elusive impermeability and praise its power of linguistic synthesis. 2here have been able descriptions of its fluid syntaB, its insinuating momentum, its generality of reference, its incorporation of vocabulary from all the arts and sciences. !ut it is popularly believed, with some reason, that the style itself is impenetrable. . . . An alternative view says that every Ashbery poem is about poetry.. Aver prolific, Ashbery has published over eighteen boo"s of poetry since Self- ortrait in a Conve! "irror. His critically acclaimed collection - %ave 678IJ; won both the %enore (arshall Poetry Prize and the !ollingen Prize. 2he long title poem was regarded as his finest since )3elf-Portrait.* Ashbery+s second epic poem, .low Chart,was published in 7887. %awrence Joseph declared in Nation that the poem, .more than any of his other boo"s, portrays the essence of Ashbery+s process. . . . .low Chart is a catalogue, which Ashbery presents as endlessly eBpansive and open to interpretation, encompassing within its subject matterFwell, as much as the poet may imagine.. Ashbery5s neBt collection, #otel )autr/amont 6788?;, was met with miBed critical response. icholas Averett noted in the Times )iterar$ Supplement, .2hose who eBpect poetry to evo"e a specific eBperience or event, real or fictional, will always find Ashbery+s wor" frustrating or just dull.. He added, .!esides, the essential subjects of Ashbery+s poetryFsubjectivity and time . . .Fare themselves general and elusiveK and though in passing it says a good deal about them, its means are in the end mimetic rather than discursive.. 'n more recent Ashbery wor"s, such as 'irls on the Run 67888;, Chinese %hispers 6?<<?;, %here Shall 0 %an&er1 6?<<9; and %orl&l$ Countr$ 6?<<>;, critics have noted an infusion of elegy as the poet contemplates aging and death. 'n the Nation,@alvin !edient stated- ./or all his eBperimentation, Ashbery writes 6as the important writers have always done; about happiness and woe. 'f the woe he "nows is treated comically, it+s still woe.. ,hile praising the poems in Chinese %hispers for their .light touch and consistent pacing,. )ibrar$ +ournal reviewer !arbara Hoffert noted that in .these autumnal pieces a sense of calm predominates. as .things repeatedly fall, ebb, dissipate, or descend.. 'n the Times )iterar$ Supplement , 3tephen !urt compared late-Ashbery to ,allace 3tevens, another poet of old age- )if 0Ashbery5s poems1 do not even see" the "inds of formal completion we find in 3tevens, they ma"e up for it in their range of tonesFbefuddled, affectionate, bubbly, chastened, sombre, alarmed, and then befuddled again.* !ut, !urt declares, )Ashbery seems more contemporary, more topical, now than when he started writing, though the culture has changed around him more than he has changed- he has become the poet of our multi-tas"ing, interruption-filled, and entertainmentsee"ing days.* (ar" /ord, also writing in the Times )iterar$ Supplement, compared Ashbery+s poetry to ,alt ,hitman+s. .%i"e ,hitman+s, it is essentially a means of involving the reader in the poem on what ,hitman calls +eDual terms+. . . . Ashbery+s evasions might be seen as motivated by a similar desire to achieve a greaterFand more democraticFintimacy by short-circuiting conventional modes of address.. icholas Jen"ins concluded in the New York Times Book Review that Ashbery+s poetry .appeals not because it offers wisdom in a pac"aged form, but because the elusiveness and mysterious promise of his lines remind us that we always have a future and a condition of meaningfulness to start out toward.. 'n ?<<I, the %ibrary of America published +ohn -shber$( Colle2te& oems, 3456-3478, the first collection of a living poet ever published by the series. Ashbery5s art criticism was collected in Reporte& Sightings( -rt Chroni2les, 3458-3478678I8;. His series of orton lectures at Harvard

covered siB poets who had )probably influenced* his own wor", including John @lare, $aymond $oussel and %aura $iding. 't was published as Other Tra&itions( The Charles 9liot Norton )e2tures in ?<<<. HisSele2te& rose was published in ?<<9. He has translated numerous /rench poets, most recently Pierre (artory5s The )an&s2apist 6?<<I;. 'n addition to his numerous awards, John Ashbery was the poet laureate of ew #or" 3tate from ?<<7 to ?<<L. He also served as chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and has been the @harles P. 3tevenson, Jr., Professor of %anguages and %iterature at !ard @ollege.

CAREER

Writer, critic, and editor. Worked as reference librarian for Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY; O ford !ni"ersity Press, Ne# York, NY, co$y#riter, 19%1&%'; (c)ra#& *ill Book +o., Ne# York, NY, co$y#riter, 19%'&%%; Ne# York !ni"ersity, Ne# York, NY, instructor in ele,entary -renc., 19%7&%/; Locus Solus, Lans&en&0ercors, -rance, editor, 1912&12; New York Herald-Tribune, 3uro$ean edition, Paris, -rance, art critic, 1912&1%; Art International,Lu4ano, 5#it6erland, art critic, 1911&1'; Art and Literature, Paris, editor, 1917&11; Art News, Ne# York, NY, Paris corres$ondent, 191'&1%, e ecuti"e editor in Ne# York, NY, 191%&72; New York Magazine, art critic, 197%&/2;Partisan Re iew, $oetry editor, 1971&/2; Newsweek, art critic, 19/2&/%. Brooklyn +olle4e of t.e +ity !ni"ersity of Ne# York, Brooklyn, $rofessor of 3n4lis. and codirector of (.-.8. $ro4ra, in creati"e #ritin4, 197'&92, distin4uis.ed $rofessor, 19/2&92, distin4uis.ed e,eritus $rofessor, 1992; *ar"ard !ni"ersity +.arles 3liot Norton Professor of Poetry, 19/9&92; Bard +olle4e, +.arles P. 5te"enson, 9r. Professor of Lan4ua4es and Literature, 1992:. *as read .is $oetry at t.e Li"in4 ;.eatre, Ne# York, NY, and at nu,erous uni"ersities, includin4 Yale !ni"ersity, !ni"ersity of +.ica4o, and !ni"ersity of ;e as.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Turandot and !t"er Poe#s <c.a$book=, ;ibor de Na4y )allery, 19%7

So#e Trees <$oe,s=, fore#ord by W. *. 8uden, Yale !ni"ersity Press <Ne# *a"en, +;=, 19%1, 3cco Press <*o$e#ell, N9=, 197/.

T"e Poe#s, ;iber Press <Ne# York, NY=, 1912.

T"e Tennis $ourt !at" <$oe,s=, Wesleyan !ni"ersity Press <(iddleto#n, +;=, 1912.

Ri ers and Mountains <$oe,s=, *olt <Ne# York, NY=, 1911.

Selected Poe#s, 9. +a$e <London, 3n4land=, 1917.

Sunrise in Suburbia, P.oeni Books.o$ <Ne# York, NY=, 191/.

T"ree Madrigals, Poet>s Press, 1919.

<Wit. 9a,es 5c.uyler= A Nest o% Ninnies <no"el=, ?utton <Ne# York, NY=, 1919.

&rag#ent <$oe,; also see belo#=, Black 5$arro# Press <5anta Barbara, +8=, 1919.

' ening in t"e $ountr(, 5$anis. (ain Press, 1972.

T"e )ouble )rea# o% S*ring <includes @-ra4,ent,A ori4inally $ublis.ed in book for,=, ?utton <Ne# York, NY=, 1972.

T"e New S*irit, 8d"entures in Poetry, 1972.

<Wit. Lee *a#ood and ;o, Ba#ort.= Penguin Modern Poets +,, Pen4uin <Ne# York, NY=, 1971.

T"ree Poe#s, 0ikin4 <Ne# York, NY=, 1972.

T"e Serious )oll, $ri"ately $rinted, 197%.

<Wit. 9oe Brainard= T"e -er#ont Notebook <$oe,s=, Black 5$arro# Press <5anta Barbara, +8=, 197%, re$rinted, )ranary Books <+alais, 0;=, 2221.

Sel%-Portrait in a $on e. Mirror <$oe,s=, 0ikin4 <Ne# York, NY=, 197%.

Houseboat )a(s <$oe,s=, 0ikin4 <Ne# York, NY=, 1977, re$rinted, -arrar, 5traus <Ne# York, NY=, 1999.

As /e 0now <$oe,s=, 0ikin4 <Ne# York, NY=, 1979.

S"adow Train1 &i%t( L(rics, 0ikin4 <Ne# York, NY=, 19/1.

<Wit. ot.ers= R2 32 0ita41 Paintings, )rawings, Pastels, 5,it.sonian Cnstitution <Was.in4ton, ?+=, 19/1.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

<Wit. ot.ers= A**aritions <$oe,s=, Lord 9o.n Press <Nort.rid4e, +8=, 19/1.

&air%ield Porter1 Realist Painter in an Age o% Abstraction, Ne# York )ra$.ic 5ociety <Ne# York, NY=, 19/7.

A /a e <$oe,s=, 0ikin4 <Ne# York, NY=, 19/'.

Selected Poe#s, 0ikin4 <Ne# York, NY=, 19/%.

A*ril 5alleons, Pen4uin <Ne# York, NY=, 19/7.

T"e Ice Stor#, *anu,an Books, 19/7.

Re*orted Sig"tings1 Art $"ronicles, +,67-+,87 <art criticis,=, edited by ?a"id Ber4,an, Dno$f <Ne# York, NY=, 19/9.

T"ree Poe#s <different te t t.an 1972 "olu,e #it. sa,e title=, 3cco Press <Ne# York, NY=, 19/9.

Haibun, illustrations by 9udit. 5.ea, +ollectif )EnEration <+olo,bes, -rance=, 1992.

&low $"art <$oe,=, Dno$f <Ne# York, NY=, 1991.

Hotel Lautrea#ont, Dno$f <Ne# York, NY=, 1992.

T"ree 3ooks <$oe,s=, Pen4uin <Ne# York, NY=, 1997.

And t"e Stars /ere S"ining, -arrar, 5traus <Ne# York, NY=, 199'.

$an You Hear, 3ird, -arrar, 5traus <Ne# York, NY=, 199%.

Pistils <essays=, $.oto4ra$.s by Bobert (a$$let.or$e, Bando, *ouse <Ne# York, NY=, 1991.

/ake%ulness, -arrar, 5traus <Ne# York, NY=, 199/.

T"e Mooring o% Starting !ut1 T"e &irst &i e 3ooks o% Poetr(, 3cco Press <*o$e#ell, N9=, 199/.

5irls on t"e Run, -arrar, 5traus <Ne# York, NY=, 1999.

!t"er Traditions1 T"e $"arles 'liot Norton Lectures, *ar"ard !ni"ersity Press <+a,brid4e, (8=, 2222.

Your Na#e Here1 Poe#s, -arrar, 5traus <Ne# York, NY=, 2222.

As 9#brellas &ollow Rain, Fua Books <Lenno , (8=, 2221.

$"inese /"is*ers1 Poe#s, -arrar, 5traus <Ne# York, NY=, 2222.

/"ere S"all I /ander:, *ar$er+ollins <Ne# York, NY=, 222%.

Selected Prose, edited by 3u4ene Bic.ie, !ni"ersity of (ic.i4an Press <8nn 8rbor, (C=, 222%.

A /orldl( $ountr(, 3cco Press <Ne# York, NY=, 2227.

Notes %ro# t"e Air1 Selected Later Poe#s, 3cco Press <Ne# York, NY=, 2227.

;o"n As"ber(1 $ollected Poe#s, +,6<-+,87, Library of 8,erica, No. 1/7 <Ne# York, NY=, 222/

Works .a"e been ant.olo4i6ed in New A#erican Poetr(, +,=6-+,<>, )ro"e <Ne# York, NY=, 1912; A $ontro ers( o% Poets, edited by Paris Leary and Bobert Delly, ?oubledayG8nc.or <Ne# York, NY=, 191'; L?A ant-5arde au4ourd?"ui, HBrussels, Bel4iu,I, 191%; Ant"olog( o% New York Poets, Bando, *ouse <Ne# York, NY=, 1919;T"e -oice T"at Is 5reat wit"in 9s1 A#erican Poetr( o% t"e Twentiet" $entur(, Banta, <Ne# York, NY=, 1972;$onte#*orar( A#erican Poetr(, *ou4.ton (ifflin <Boston, (8=, 1971; &i%t( Modern A#erican and 3ritis" Poets, +,@>-+,7>, edited by Louis !nter,eyer, (cDay <Ne# York, NY=, 1977; and S"ake t"e 0aleidosco*e1 A New Ant"olog( o% Modern Poetr(, 5i,on J 5c.uster <Ne# York, NY=, 1977.

+ontributor of $oetry to $eriodicals, includin4 New York Re iew o% 3ooks, Partisan Re iew, Har*er?s, and New YorkerA contributor of art criticis, to $eriodicals, includin4 Art International and Au4ourd?"uiA contributor of literary criticis, to New York Re iew o% 3ooks, Saturda( Re iew, Poetr(, 3izarre <Paris, -rance=, and ot.er $eriodicals.

PL8Y5

T"e Heroes <one&act; also see belo#; $roduced Off&Broad#ay, 19%2; $roduced in London, 3n4land, 19/2=, in Artists? T"eater, edited by *erbert (ac.i6, )ro"e <Ne# York, NY=, 1919.

o o o
3?C;OB

T"e $o#*ro#ise <t.ree&act; also see belo#; $roduced in +a,brid4e, (8, at t.e Poet>s ;.eater, 19%1=, in T"e Hast( Pa*ers, 8lfred Leslie, 1912.

T"e P"iloso*"er <one&act; also see belo#=, in Art and Literature, nu,ber 2, 191'.

T"ree Pla(s <contains T"e Heroes, T"e $o#*ro#ise, and T"e P"iloso*"er=, K Press <+alais, 0;=, 197/.

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<Wit. ot.ers= T"e A#erican Literar( Ant"olog(, -arrar, 5traus <Ne# York, NY=, 191/.

<Wit. ;.o,as B. *ess= Lig"t, (ac,illan <Ne# York, NY=, 1919.

<Wit. ;.o,as B. *ess= Painters Painting, Ne#s#eek <Ne# York, NY=, 1971.

<Wit. ;.o,as B. *ess= Art o% t"e 5rand 'ccentrics, (ac,illan <Ne# York, NY=, 1971.

<Wit. ;.o,as B. *ess= A ant-5arde Art, (ac,illan <Ne# York, NY=, 1971.

Penguin Modern Poets @=1 0en /ard 'l#slie, 0ennet" 0oc", ;a#es Sc"u(ler, Pen4uin <Ne# York, NY=, 197'.

Bic.ard -. 5kno#, T"e &unn( Place, O>*ara <+.ica4o, CL=, 197%.

Bruce (arcus, Muck Arbour, O>*ara <+.ica4o, CL=, 197%.

<;ranslator fro, t.e -renc.= (a 9acob, T"e )ice $u*1 Selected Prose Poe#s, 5!N <Ne# York, NY=, 1979.

<Wit. ?a"id Le.,an= T"e 3est A#erican Poetr(, +,88, 5cribner <Ne# York, NY=, 19/9.

+oeditor, !ne &ourteen, 19%2&%7.

O;*3B

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<;ranslator= 9ean&9acLues (ayou , Mel ille, )ro"e <Ne# York, NY=, 1912.

<;ranslator, as 9onas Berry, #it. La#rence ). Bloc.,an= Murder in Mont#artre, ?ell <Ne# York, NY=, 1912.

<;ranslator, as 9onas Berry, #it. La#rence ). Bloc.,an= )ene"ie"e (anceron, T"e )eadlier Se., ?ell <Ne# York, NY=, 1911.

<;ranslator= (arcel 8llain and Pierre 5ou"estre, &anto#as, (orro# <Ne# York, NY=, 19/1.

<;ranslator= Pierre (artory, ' er( Buestion but !ne, )round#ater PressG Cnter-lo 3ditions, 1992.

<;ranslator, #it. ot.ers= Pierre Be"erdy, Selected Poe#s, Wake -orest !ni"ersity Press <Winston&5ale,, N+=, 1991.

<;ranslator= Pierre (artory, T"e Landsca*e Is be"ind t"e )oor, 5.ee$ (eado# Press <Bi"erdale&on&*udson, NY=, 199'.

o o

;o"n As"ber( in $on ersation wit" Mark &ord, ?ufour 3ditions <+.ester 5$rin4s, P8=, 2227.

<;ranslator= Pierre (artory, T"e Landsca*ist, +arcanet Press <(anc.ester, 3n4land=, 222/.

+ollaborator #it. 9oe Brainard on + +o,ic Books; collaborator #it. 3lliott +arter on ,usical settin4 S(ringa,$roduced in Ne# York, NY, 1979. Poetry recordin4s include Treasur( o% +>> Modern A#erican Poets Reading T"eir Poe#s, 0olu,e 17, 5$oken 8rts; Poetr( o% ;o"n As"ber(, 9effrey Norton, and ;o"n As"ber( < @0oice of t.e PoetA series=, Bando, 8udio, 2221. ;ranslator, fro, t.e -renc., of t.e #orks of Bay,ond Boussel, 8ndre Breton, Pierre Be"erdy, 8rt.ur +ra"an, (a 9acob, 8lfred 9arry, 8ntonin 8rtaud, Noel 0e in, and ot.ers.