Musical Symbolism In John Ashbery’ S Poetry

John Ashbery（1927-2017）is an outstanding representative of contemporary American poetry.His work is closely related to the artistic achievements of the Western world in the 20^thcentury and the rapid development of American cultural strengths.As an important member of the New York school,Ashbery was heavily influenced by French symbolist poetry.This thesis takes the French symbolist poet Paul Valéry’s symbolist musical theory as the starting point and focuses on interpreting some of Ashbery’s poems and explores his work as a member of the New York School in postwar US and the avant-garde poetry.It hopes to understand what contributions Ashbery has made to poetry,literature,and art in his own culture and times,e.g.the application of free verse,the breakthroughs in the poetic forms—generally,how he has integrated the cultural elements from the outside world,absorbing and transforming them into his own and used them in literary creation.The introduction summarizes Ashbery’s art of poetics;it sets up the correlation between the poet’s creation and music,which leads to the application of Valéry’s theory to Ashbery’s poetry.The first chapter analyzes how Ashbery applies rhythmless free verse in his writings in a specific psychological and environment,and how he uses symbolism to add musical elements to achieve a relatively harmonious state.The second chapter compares Ashbery’s and Valéry’s works,finding out the affinities between French symbolism and New York School poetry.I hope to promote the function of music that connects the outside world with the audience’s spiritual world.The third chapter treats the ideas of free verse and postmodernism,tracing the interpretation of free verse and“modernity”by looking at some representative poets and trying to research the inheritance and developmental relationship between Ashbery and his predecessors by combing through the development and innovation of American poetry.The conclusion summarizes Ashbery’s poetic innovations and progress:the application of symbolism,the similarity between the spiritual and real worlds and their connection with music,and the enlightenment to modern readers.