Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Analyzing John Ashbery's sprawling and complex poem "The Skaters" is a venture into a labyrinth of ambiguity, various narrative threads, and shifting perspectives. Ashbery, a seminal figure in American poetry, is known for his postmodernist style that often resists easy interpretation. His work frequently undermines the traditional expectations of what a poem should be and do, choosing instead to explore the limits of language and thought.

"The Skaters" is an epitome of this characteristic resistance. It starts with a ruminative engagement with sound-"These decibels / Are a kind of flagellation"-and progresses through a meandering tapestry of imagery and musings. The reader moves through diverse terrains: skaters on ice, conversations about collections, a carnival of musical instruments, philosophical inquiries, and ruminations on identity, among others.

The poem is thick with enjambment, forcing the reader to continually adjust their engagement with the text, mirroring the skaters who "elaborate their distances, / Taking a separate line to its end." This is not a poem of straightforward statements; it is one of flux, change, and layered meanings. There is a constant push-and-pull between formlessness and structure, a tension echoed in lines like, "This, thus, is a portion of the subject of this poem / Which is in the form of falling snow." The poem is as elusive and transitory as the snowflakes it describes.

Interwoven throughout the poem are musings on the act of poetry itself-the "carnivorous / Way of these lines is to devour their own nature." This self-reflective quality of the poem also speaks to the time in which it was written. The 1960s was a period of introspection and questioning of established norms in both culture and literature. Ashbery's poem embodies this zeitgeist by continually probing its own substance and purpose, questioning the capacity of words to capture experience or truth.

While many modern poems seek to offer a snapshot of a moment or emotion, Ashbery's poem resists this reduction. Instead, it aims to capture the sweeping range of human thought and experience, akin to an extended jazz improvisation that incorporates multiple themes, tempos, and influences. It's a tribute to complexity and ambiguity, undermining the notion that life or art can be reduced to a single narrative or interpretation.

In terms of its historical and cultural context, "The Skaters" is often considered part of the New York School of poetry, a group loosely connected by their adoption of contemporary painting techniques, casual speech patterns, and abstract expressionist influences. Ashbery's work, like the art it parallels, refuses to be pinned down. The poem's wide-ranging references-spanning from classical mythology to the mundane act of collecting stamps or "funny-looking dogs"-also echo the eclectic, referential nature of postmodern culture.

Ultimately, "The Skaters" is a testament to the complexities and ambiguities that make up human existence. It does not offer easy answers but instead celebrates the questions, the tangents, and the meandering paths that characterize both the mind and life itself. As the poem meanders through its labyrinthine corridors, one gets the sense that the journey-fraught with confusions, divergences, and unexpected discoveries-is more meaningful than any destination it might propose.

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...