Historically speaking, the only rule characterising a cento, from late
Greek and Latin onwards, is that it be composed out of the work of one
author (ie not the one composing it). Often, and for obvious reasons, this
was Homer or Virgil. In the renaissance there were well-known centos
composed out of Petrarch, and even Cicero. The practice of using more than
one author is, as far I know, a fairly recent one. Ashbery seems, in all of
his, to adhere to the idea that the lines used should be at least vaguely
familiar to the reader, so he exploits their historical-cultural resonance
as part of the poem's effect. A stricter application of rules results in a
different sort of rereading of a single author, as in the following, from
Emily Dickinson:
We grow accustomed to the Dark-
Residing in a jar -
Within its precincts hopes have played -
So dangerously near
But in this black Receptacle
We know that we are wise -
Built of but just a syllable -
Of one anotheršs Eyes -
That awful stranger Consciousness
Has not a Voice to spare -
I am afraid to own a Soul -
An Income in the Air
Love reckons by itself - alone -
On Solitary Fields -
The fine - impalpable Array -
Upon Vermilion Wheels -
Aglow - All ruddy - with the light
And then - obscure with Fog -
For Beauty is Infinity -
The long sigh of the frog
ikp
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