Dear Andy,
Try 'listening' to Asbery visually too- at how the words roll, the shapes,
landscapes they make- rather than just piecing together the images or
literal sense.
Sometimes an apparently bland word is like neccessary blank space, smoothing
things, whereas an overly energetic word can be the bomb that blows a poem
apart... You probably know all that...
Cassie
On Fri, 14 Jul 2000 17:59:50 +0100, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Hi Hugh,
>
> Thanks for taking time to post this. I've a feeling I'm a lost
> cause as far as Ashbery goes though. Certain poets I find
> baffling but ultimately rewarding (Stevens, earlier Hill) --
> I think primarily because of those sonic surface details which
> are part and parcel of meaning (as I think Bill mentioned).
>
> Ashbery falls very flat on my ear, for some reason . . . .
>
> > We can live in The Heights and conjecture interestingly
> about how life is made, <
>
> Leaves me cold. Whatever he's saying here, I don't find myself
> moved to try and figure it out, due to the banality of expression.
>
>
> >The clothesline has fallen / to the enemy somewhere. Yet the awnings are
> still prim and / conspiratorial'.<
>
> Again, I'm none the wiser . . . why clothesline? Why not BBQ
> set or garden parasol? I come away from Ashbery feeling that
> his choice of words is largely arbitrary. That 'somewhere' looks
> unnecessary also. Conspiratorial awnings . . . . makes no
> sense that I can see.
>
> I should try reading him again to make sure I've not built up a
> prejudice -- my memory though is of a poetry both bland and
> infuriatingly surreal.
>
> I'd be very interested to hear others' opinions of Ashbery, to learn
> how far he divides opinion.
>
> I'll have another crack at it . . . . . thanks for the nudge :-)
>
>
> Andy
>
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