A Not Very Insightful Post About Ashbery

I find writing about Ashbery to be rather difficult, and I suppose this is largely because it is hard for me to grasp his poetry--both in terms of its "meaning" as well as its intention. The Altieri article definitely helped to illuminate some of what Ashbery is doing, but I still find that in picking up an Ashbery poem I encounter a muddled mess of disconnected, abstract ideas and while I can tell that there is a bigger philosophical discussion going on, I can't easily discern what it is. In this way, Ashbery reminds me a little of Knox and even of some of the language poets in the way that it is evident that something is being done with language itself and that part of the poem's purpose is to either manipulate this language or to reveal its limitations. As always, this playing with and examination of language is fascinating to me--yet, at the same time, I am incredibly frustrated when I cannot understand what is being done or why. I found Knox to be less difficult so that even if I did not understand everything she was doing, I was able to glean enough to enjoy the poems (I think also this may have something to do with the humor I detect in Knox and may be why I am more tolerant of her language play than with that of the language poets who seem to take themselves rather seriously). What Ashbery is doing feels closed off to me, though it seems very smart--in this way, Ashbery seems a little like some genius-mad scientist who has locked himself away in his basement, never to reveal his genius to the world. Yet, this is not exactly an accurate analogy since Ashbery hasn't locked himself away from the world--rather, he is actually quite public, having sent his poems out into the world and which are not only published but are well known. And I think this is the crux of what troubles me; these poems are in the public sphere, yet they seem to have relevance only if you understand Ashbery's private intention. And while knowing the poet's intention may be helpful (or even necessary) in understanding or appreciating many poems, it seems as though one must work especially hard to identify Ashbery's intention.

That being said, I remain open to the possibility that I'm just not trying hard enough and that Ashbery's poems are worth the work. I recognize also that part of the "pleasure" in an Ashbery poem seems to exist in its difficulty, in grappling with the same philosophical questions regarding language that Ashbery seems to be grappling with in constructing the poem. I'm hoping that our discussion will help me understand (and possibly appreciate) this a little more.