Q. What are the Main Characteristics of John Ashbery’s Poetry?
Characteristics of John Ashbery Poetry
John Ashbery’s poetry is different from traditional poetry. His work does not follow strict rules of rhyme or structure. He writes in free verse, allowing his ideas to move naturally.
His poems often seem abstract and open-ended. He does not always tell a straightforward story or explain his meaning. Instead, he makes poetry feel like a stream of thoughts and emotions.
His poetry contained many characteristics that made it unique. He used shifting perspectives, everyday life, surrealism, humor, personal reflection, and religious ideas.
His poems did not always follow a direct path. They often felt like a mixture of different voices, ideas, and images, and readers had to interpret his work in their own way.
The following are the characteristics of Ashbury’s poetry;
- Free Verse and Unstructured Form
- Abstract and Unclear Meaning
- Changing Voices
- Everyday Life Mixed with Surrealism
- Humor and Playfulness
- Personal Reflection
- Religious Themes
- Experimentation with Language
Free Verse and Unstructured Form
Ashbery did not use traditional poetic forms. He avoided regular rhyme schemes and strict meters. His lines flowed freely, like natural speech or internal thoughts. This made his poetry feel spontaneous and unpredictable.
In Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, he writes:
The surface is what’s there
And nothing can exist except what’s there.
These lines reflect his approach to poetry. He does not try to explain a deeper meaning. He presents what is visible. This challenges the idea that poetry must have a hidden message.
He focuses on what is directly in front of the reader. His words create an image, but they do not force a single interpretation. The reader is free to think about the poem in their own way.
Abstract and Unclear Meaning
ohn Ashbery’s poem The Tennis Court Oath is difficult to understand in a traditional way. The poem does not tell a clear story. It feels like a collection of thoughts and images placed together without explanation.
The lines shift suddenly from one idea to another. Some parts sound like a memory, while others seem random. The words do not always connect in a way that makes sense immediately.
At the beginning of the poem, Ashbery writes:
What had you been thinking about
the face studiously bloodied
heaven blotted region
These lines do not tell the reader precisely what is happening. The first line sounds like a question, but there is no clear answer. The phrase “the face studiously bloodied” suggests something violent, but we do not know who this face belongs to or why it is described this way.
The words “heaven blotted region” seem essential, but their meaning is not explained. The poem moves forward without giving more details about these images.
Ashbery does not follow a single thought for long. A few lines later, he writes:
You were not elected president, yet won the race
All the way through fog and drizzle
This sentence does not match the one before it. The idea of someone not being elected but still winning creates confusion.
The words “fog and drizzle” add to this feeling by making it seem like things are unclear or hidden. The poem keeps moving in this way, jumping from one moment to another.
Changing Voices
John Ashbery’s poem Melodic Trains shifts between different perspectives, moving between observation, reflection, and abstract thought. The poem does not have a single, stable voice.
It moves fluidly, blending everyday moments with larger ideas about time, travel, and human emotions.
The poem begins with a small, ordinary event:
A little girl with scarlet enameled fingernails
Asks me what time it is—evidently that’s a toy wristwatch
She’s wearing, for fun.
At this moment, the voice of the poem is direct and focused on the present. The speaker is paying attention to a child sitting nearby, describing her in detail. The interaction is simple, and the tone feels casual.
But in the next few lines, the poem shifts into something more abstract:
Like date-colored sierras with the lines of seams
Sketched in and plunging now and then into unfathomable
Valleys that can’t be deduced by the shape of the person
Sitting inside it—me…
Here, the focus moves from the girl to the speaker’s own appearance and then expands outward into a comparison with landscapes. The voice begins to sound less personal and more distant as if it drifts away from the scene.
The connection between the train ride and these reflections is not fully explained, but the movement between perspectives mirrors the train’s motion.
Everyday Life Mixed with Surrealism
John Ashbery often combined familiar, everyday moments with strange or dreamlike elements. His poetry blends reality with imagination, making ordinary situations feel unexpected and slightly surreal.
This technique gives his poems a shifting, unpredictable quality. One example of this is found in Daffy Duck in Hollywood, where he writes:
Something strange is creeping across me.
La Celestina has only to warble the first few bars
Of “I Thought about You”
At first, the speaker describes a feeling that seems personal—something “creeping across” him, as if an emotion or realization is slowly arriving. But then, the poem unexpectedly introduces La Celestina, a reference to a character from Spanish literature.
This historical reference is immediately followed by a mention of “I Thought about You,” a jazz standard written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer.
Humor and Playfulness
Ashbery did not always write serious poetry. He liked to play with words and ideas, and his poetry often contained humor, irony, and sarcasm. He made fun of poetic expectations and human behavior.
His humor was not always obvious. It appeared in the way he played with language, tone, and expectations. He mixed everyday speech with serious thoughts. This made his poems feel both thoughtful and amusing.
In My Philosophy of Life, Ashbery’s humor comes from his casual and wandering style. He talks about big ideas in a relaxed way. The poem starts in a conversational tone as if the speaker is chatting with the reader:
Just when I thought there wasn’t room enough
for another thought in my head, I had this great idea
call it a philosophy of life, if you will.
This opening is funny because the speaker acts as if thinking is a physical burden. He suggests that his mind is already full, as if ideas take up space like objects in a crowded room.
But then, despite claiming to be out of space, he immediately has “this great idea.” The humor comes from the contradiction—how can he have a new idea if there is no room for it?
The phrase “call it a philosophy of life, if you will” is also playful. The speaker suggests that his idea might be important, but he does so in a casual way.
The phrase “if you will” makes it sound as if he does not fully believe in it himself. Instead of making a big, serious statement, he downplays it, making the moment feel light and humorous.
Conclusion
John Ashbery’s poetry had many unique characteristics. He used free verse and avoided strict structures. His poems often had unclear meanings. He liked to change perspectives suddenly.
Ashbery mixed everyday life with dreamlike images. He used humor and playfulness in his writing. His poetry contained personal thoughts and reflections. He also questioned spiritual ideas without fully embracing or rejecting religion.
His poetry changed how people think about poetry. He showed that poetry does not need to follow a fixed path. His influence continues today, shaping modern poets who value freedom, imagination, and personal expression.
