Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Like a Sentence" by John Ashbery is a poem of continual unraveling, a meandering through thought that seeks to probe the ambiguities of knowledge, aging, and the existential journey of life. The poem opens with a paradox that summarizes human ignorance and the temporal limitations of acquired knowledge: "How little we know, / and when we know it!" The words are rife with irony, drawing attention to the ephemeral nature of our certainties.

Incorporating an eclectic blend of images, from cows and shards to a child on a unicycle, Ashbery reflects on the ephemerality of concerns that seem significant in the moment. The line "the afternoon / will fold you up" speaks of time's relentless march, one that reduces even the most pressing matters to the simple, childlike wonder of a unicycle performance. The question that arises then is, "Then what will you make of walls?"-a metaphorical query into the limitations or boundaries we perceive or construct in our lives.

Ashbery delves deeper into existential considerations with, "For you see, it becomes you to be chastened: / for the old to envy the young, / and for youth to fear not getting older." He suggests that each phase of life is accompanied by its own anxieties and envies, establishing a continuum of desires and fears that help propel us into the unknown corridors of existence, "where the paths through the elms, the carnivals, begin."

Further complicating this human drama is the allusion to Gyges' ring, borrowed from Greek mythology and philosophy, which grants invisibility to its wearer. Ashbery employs this symbol to discuss the unnoticed or overlooked dimensions of human life. Just as Gyges is invisible to those around him, each individual moves through life surrounded by obscurities, "aware / only of a certain stillness, such as precedes an earache." It suggests that the full scope of our existence and our impact on others often remains hidden.

As the poem unfurls, Ashbery reflects upon the changing seasons as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of life. "I was going to say I had squandered spring / when summer came along and took it from me." Here, Ashbery's tone turns elegiac, mourning the transitory nature of time and opportunity. Yet he also insists that it is "wrong / to speak of other seasons as though they exist," emphasizing that each moment, each season, is an encapsulated universe in itself.

By the end of the poem, we are left with an overwhelming sense of the unpredictability of life: "we who think we know where we are going unfazed / end up in brilliant woods, nourished more than we can know / by the unexpectedness of ice and stars / and crackling tears." It is an admission that despite our sense of direction, life perpetually offers unforeseen turns.

In conclusion, "Like a Sentence" serves as a profound reflection on the complexities and uncertainties that characterize human existence. Through its rich tapestry of images and ideas, the poem challenges us to confront our limitations and relish the unknown, understanding that our knowledge is limited and our time finite, yet enriched by the very unpredictability that defines it.