[New-Poetry] Ashes, ashes, we all fall down

[Linda Sue Grimes]

B written by Stephen Burt

lsg
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: David Graham 
  To: new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu & Views 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 8:15 PM
  Subject: [New-Poetry] Ashes, ashes, we all fall down


  As part of National Too Much Poetry Month, NewPo is pleased to offer its first Ashbery quiz.


  Ready?


  Here's a poem from Mr. Ashbery's most recent book:


  The Inchcape Rock

  Prop up the "meaning,"
  take the trash out, the dog for a walk,
  give the old balls a scratch, apologize for three things
  by Friday--oh quiet noumenon
  of my soul, this is it, right?
  You lost the key and the answer is inside
  somewhere, and where are you going to breathe?
  The box is shut that knew you
  and all your friends,
  voices that could have spoken in your behalf ...

  Why, what did you want me to do with them?
  Half a document is sufficient to this
  weather, wild time, excrescence, more.
  Rumors sift across a bald apologia.
  The feet are here.

  --John Ashbery. A Worldly Country.  HarperCollins, 2007.
  _______________________


  Which of the following descriptions best captures the above poem's theme?  


  A) A poem must not mean but be.  


  B) The poet imagines himself dying, and then dead, enclosed in a coffin from which his spirit has departed.


  C)  Life is a ravishing disappointment, most of the time, but oh well.


  D)  Getting old is a real bitch, but the supreme fiction never dies.


  E)  Even our closest friendships are riddled with rumors, missed connections, and contradictory memories.




  Extra credit:


  One of the above descriptions was actually written by a prominent critic.  Identify which one, and for extra-extra credit, name the critic.  
  ========================================
  David Graham
  grahamd at ripon.edu


  Home Page:
  http://web.mac.com/drjazz


  Poetry Library:
  http://web.mac.com/drjazz/iWeb/Site/DGPoLibrary.html
  ==========================================









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