Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name" by John Ashbery delves into the intricate relationship between artistic representation and existential questioning. The poem's title itself references the classical idea that poetry and painting are comparable forms of art, and Ashbery takes this traditional concept and unravels it in a manner that is unmistakably contemporary.

Starting with the line "You can't say it that way anymore," the poem immediately signals change, a departure from traditional ways of viewing or representing beauty. It suggests that the pursuit of beauty requires a new setting and a new frame of mind: "Come out into the open, into a clearing, / And rest." Here, the clearing serves as both a literal and metaphorical space: literal in the sense that it is a physical setting different from the closed interior spaces we are accustomed to, and metaphorical as a new paradigm for thinking about art.

The poem then drifts into a section that feels almost like an internal monologue, touching on self-perception and the absurdity of life. "To demand more than this would be strange / of you, you who have so many lovers." It hints at the multifaceted nature of the self, questioning what we deserve or what we think we are worth.

When Ashbery writes, "So much for self-analysis. Now, / About what to put in your poem-painting," he transitions from existential musings to the craft of poetry (or art) itself. This is where the title's concept of the relationship between painting and poetry explicitly surfaces. He muses on what elements to incorporate: "Flowers are always nice, particularly delphinium. / Names of boys you once knew and their sleds, / Skyrockets are good-do they still exist?" This list oscillates between the pastoral, the personal, and the pyrotechnic, showcasing the myriad choices that confront the artist.

The poem takes another sharp turn with the lines, "Suddenly the street was / Bananas and the clangor of Japanese instruments." Here, Ashbery captures the chaos and unpredictability of life, which cannot always be neatly contained within any artistic medium. The poem then dives into an even more profound realm with "The extreme austerity of an almost empty mind / Colliding with the lush, Rousseau-like foliage of its desire to communicate." This line perhaps encapsulates the essence of the poem: the constant battle between the emptiness of existential dread and the richness of artistic vision.

Finally, Ashbery sums up the paradox of human communication with, "Something between breaths, if only for the sake / Of others and their desire to understand you and desert you / For other centers of communication, so that understanding / May begin, and in doing so be undone." Here he touches upon the inherent contradiction in human connection. The moment we think we understand something, it changes or becomes obsolete, and we move on to the next "center of communication."

In "And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name," Ashbery takes us on a whirlwind tour through the landscape of human consciousness, framed by the act of artistic creation. The poem doesn't offer resolutions but instead revels in the complexities and contradictions that make up life and art. It serves as an ode to the intricate dance between expression and understanding, which is always in flux, always teetering between clarity and obscurity.

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