Last month I quoted a paragraph from John Ashbery's Other Traditions. It's a very interesting book. Ashbery analyses the work of six poets, all of whom he says have had a major influence on his own writing. The six poets are John Clare, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Raymond Roussel, John Wheelwright, Laura Riding, and David Schubert - a varied selection, to say the least.
Today I came across two articles in Ron Silliman's blog that discuss Ashbery's book and both make interesting reading, even (I think) if you haven't read the book.
2 comments:
Beddoes? Clare?
And here I just made a post to your thread at PFFA suggesting that he was imitating people like Stevens and Eliot.
The only Ashbery I own is "The Mooring of Starting Out", which contains his first five complete books of poetry. I think, despite my reservations about Ashbery, that I've hit that book more than any other over the past year or so.
Regards.
I think he might be tongue-in-cheek about his influences, although there's no doubting his admiration for these poets.
Most Ashbery poems leave me cold. But there are some which I like, and the good ones tend to be very good.
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