A Study Of The Landscape In John Ashbery’s Poetry

The natural landscape in John Ashbery’s poetry has been a topic of debate among critics for a long time,and the space study of the landscape has become a trend since the last decade.Reviews on landscapes have analyzed the artistic creation of the New York School poets,commenting that they are creating nature instead of reflecting it.The complicated exchange between the “inside” and the “outside” of a space and the vast images of nature in Ashbery’s poetry conform to the notions of postmodern poetry and the development of the art of painting.The landscape,which implies indefinite affective meanings,is often associated with the contemplation of the poet.This study applies the theory of poetic space by Gaston Bachelard.By analyzing the relevant images and spaces,and interpreting the features and changes of the landscape,it aims at explaining the implicit meaning of the landscape in Ashbery’s poetry and further revealing Ashbery’s poetic thoughts.The main body of this thesis consists of three parts.Chapter One illustrates the inspiration source of the natural landscape in Ashbery’s poetry and the significance of the landscape to the poet’s memory.The landscape displays an obsolete scene that embodies the poet’s escape from life experiences and his resistance to the previous poetic traditions.Chapter Two focuses on the landscape which is often haunted by confusing images both in the internal and external spaces.The turbulent outside is often displayed by Ashbery to explain the influence brought by external reality on poetic writing,while the internal space shows the predicament grasped by the poet,indicating that the feeble language can neither record the grand reality nor express precise thoughts.Chapter Three discusses the imagination of the ideal poetry revealed by the depiction of the landscape.The natural landscape conveys a sense of vibrancy that copes with Ashbery’s reconciliation with the past and his imagination and prediction of poetry in the future.The persistent exploration of the unattainable ideal embodies the poet’s pursuit of aesthetic expression in poetry and a sense of mission in renovating pastoral poems.This thesis provides an approach to the study of the natural landscape in Ashbery’s poetry from the perspective of the relationship between the internal space and the external scenery.The description of the landscape with variable emotional implications,demonstrated by the depiction of the images and spaces,indicates the poet’s thoughts on the acceptance of tradition,the selection of language,and the exploration of innovation.