18 pages • 36 minutes read
John AshberyThe Painter
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1955A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“These Lacustrine Cities” by John Ashbery (1966)
Although published only a decade later and still relatively early in Ashbery’s poetic career, “These Lacustrine Cities” stands as a masterwork of Ashbery’s indeterminate, abstract linguistic style. If “The Painter” is a straightforward parable describing Ashbery’s aesthetics, “These Lacustrine Cities” are those aesthetics in action. Ashbery published tens of books over the course of his career, and this poem hails from only his third: Rivers and Mountains. However, the strategies on display in the text are used by Ashbery throughout the entirety of his literary practice.
“To a Reason” by Arthur Rimbaud (1886), translated by John Ashbery (2011)
Published as part of Ashbery’s translation of French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s singular masterpiece Illuminations, “To a Reason” is an example of both the poetry that inspired Ashbery and Ashbery’s own poetics in his translation. This poem, hosted by Poetry magazine, also links to a long essay Ashbery wrote about his process and theory of translating the Rimbaud text.
“The Shield of Achilles” by W. H. Auden (1952)
One of Auden’s most famous poems, “The Shield of Achilles” demonstrates the precise, metric Modernism of Auden’s style. The poem’s interest in mythology and the minutiae of the Western literary canon are exemplary of Auden’s thematic concerns, and its clarity shows the dominant poetic style into which Ashbery was born.
Further Literary Resources
"Art in Conversation: John Ashbery, the Brooklyn Rail" interviewed by Jarrett Earnest (2016)
This interview took place in the penultimate year of Ashbery’s life. In the interview, Ashbery discusses his childhood, being gay, his relationship with visual art, his collage work, and more. The interview also describes Ashbery’s personal history with French poetry and Arthur Rimbaud’s work in general.
The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage by Marjorie Perloff (1981)
While “The Painter” reads in a fairly straightforward way, Ashbery’s established poetic mode can be puzzling for initiates. For new tools, look no further than Marjorie Perloff’s seminal study of the avant-garde, which splits the history of literature into two modes: symbolism and anti-symbolism. The book tracks the history and development of the oft-misunderstood literature of anti-symbolism (or indeterminacy), providing both theoretical structures and concrete tools for understanding and analysis. Split into several distinct chapters focusing on key authors of this literary lineage, Perloff’s chapter “Mysteries of Construction: The Dream Songs of John Ashbery” provides a thorough and convincing theoretical analysis of Ashbery’s poetry, as well as in-depth textual explication. The introductory chapter of the book, “Unreal Cities,” uses Ashbery’s “These Lacustrine Cities” to define the overarching thesis of Perloff’s book, providing unique insights into Ashbery’s work.
The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of Poets by David Lehman (1999)
This book combines criticism, analysis, biography, and narrative to paint a picture of the dynamic and influential New York School of which Ashbery was a primary member. David Lehman weaves together thorough historical knowledge and sharp literary insight to provide important context for Ashbery and his fellow poets.
Listen to Poem
The Paris Review provides this old and well-preserved audio recording of Ashbery reading one of his earliest published poems, at least in his adult career.
