Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

John Ashbery's "Tapestry" takes the reader into a complex meditation on perception, art, and the nature of existence. The poem begins with the challenge of dissociating the tapestry from its surrounding context, the room or loom that "takes precedence over it." Here, Ashbery touches upon the intricate relationship between an artwork and its environment, perhaps hinting at the larger tension between an individual and their societal or historical context. The tapestry must always be "frontal yet to one side," indicating the paradoxical way art often sits both centrally and peripherally in our lives and understanding.

The tapestry, as described, "insists on this picture of 'history,'" portraying it as a punishment where sight is "blinded by sunlight." This suggests that the act of observing history or life-perhaps even living it-is a blinding experience, awash in the harsh light of immediacy. The act of seeing is conflated with what is seen, capturing the moment of "sudden awareness of its formal splendor." Here, the poem argues that perception is not just a passive act; it actively shapes the experience. There's an existential punch to this notion: not only do we take in the world, but the act of perception also shapes the contours of our understanding, sketching a "blueprint, of what was just there."

The next section about the "form of a blanket" serves as a complex metaphor for our comfort with this limited perception, or perhaps our inability to fully engage with the torrential flow of life. We are "eager, all the same, to be wound in it," highlighting our complex relationship with limitations, which can both constrict and comfort. "This must be the good of not experiencing it," Ashbery muses, touching upon the idea that there's a strange solace in not fully comprehending life's tapestry; it allows us to live without the weight of absolute awareness.

The closing lines take us into a vision of "some other life," a utopian existence where "citizens hold sweet commerce with one another." In this world, the elements that make life difficult are curiously absent. Words are anthropomorphized as they "go crying after themselves," leaving "the dream upended in a puddle somewhere." This appears to argue that even in an ideal world, there's a transient, elusive quality to existence. The poem closes on a subversive note, treating the concept of "dead" as "just another adjective," deflating its gravitas and suggesting that even our most severe or defining descriptors are merely facets in the grand tapestry of existence.

"Manifold" is an understatement when describing the themes Ashbery weaves into "Tapestry." Through its nuanced reflections on art, perception, and existence, the poem invites us to consider the limitations of our understanding while also hinting at the boundless complexities that lie just beyond the reach of our "blueprints." It is a masterful work, an intricate weave of thought and emotion that speaks to the enduring ambiguities of human experience.

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