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91 Interesting Quotes By John Ashbery That Will Inspire The Metricists

Famous As: Poet, Writer, University teacher, Journalist
Born On: July 28, 1927
Born In: Rochester
Age: 96 Years
John Ashbery was a prolific American poet and writer. Besides bagging in the ‘Pulitzer Prize’ for poetry in 1976, he earned almost every major award and accolade in America for poetry. However, his works and thoughts are controversial. He was renowned for his intricacy and postmodern convolution. He once stated that he wished his thoughts and works to reach as many people as possible and not be an exclusive discourse with himself. We have compiled some notable, quotes and thoughts by John Ashbery, the man who had a larger vocabulary than many other famous poets. Read through the corpus of famous, noteworthy, meaningful and thought-provoking quotes and sayings by John Ashbery which have been collected from his writings, poems, books, thoughts, interviews, works and life.
Will occur as time grows more open about it.

Will occur as time grows more open about it.

John Ashbery
Silly girls your heads full of boys

Silly girls your heads full of boys

John Ashbery
I'm heading for a clean-named place like Wisconsin, and mad as a jack-o'-lantern, will get there without help and nosy proclivities.

I'm heading for a clean-named place like Wisconsin, and mad as a jack-o'-lantern, will get there without help and nosy proclivities.

John Ashbery
Where then shall hope and fear their objects find?

Where then shall hope and fear their objects find?

John Ashbery
And just as there are no words for the surface, that is,
No words to say what it really is, that it is not
Superficial but a visible core, then there is
No way out of the problem of pathos vs. experience.

And just as there are no words for the surface, that is, No words to say what it really is, that it is not Superficial but a visible core, then there is No way out of the problem of pathos vs. experience.

John Ashbery
It is written in the Book of Usable Minutes
That all things have their center in their dying....

It is written in the Book of Usable Minutes That all things have their center in their dying....

John Ashbery
The winter does what it can for its children.

The winter does what it can for its children.

John Ashbery
The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.

The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.

John Ashbery
To the poet as a basement quilt, but perhaps
To some reader a latticework of regrets ...

To the poet as a basement quilt, but perhaps To some reader a latticework of regrets ...

John Ashbery
I tried each thing, only some were immortal and free.

I tried each thing, only some were immortal and free.

John Ashbery
Death is a new office building filled with modern furniture,
A wise thing, but which has no purpose for us.

Death is a new office building filled with modern furniture, A wise thing, but which has no purpose for us.

John Ashbery
A perfect example of the new republic's urge to drape itself with the togas of classical respectability.

A perfect example of the new republic's urge to drape itself with the togas of classical respectability.

John Ashbery
I like poems you can tack all over with a hammer and there are no hollow places.

I like poems you can tack all over with a hammer and there are no hollow places.

John Ashbery
The gray glaze of the past attacks all know-how....

The gray glaze of the past attacks all know-how....

John Ashbery
I often wonder if I am suffering from some mental dysfunction because of how weird and baffling my poetry seems to so many people and sometimes to me too.

I often wonder if I am suffering from some mental dysfunction because of how weird and baffling my poetry seems to so many people and sometimes to me too.

John Ashbery
I want a bedroom near the sky, an astrologer's cave
Where I can fashion eclogues that are chaste and grave.

I want a bedroom near the sky, an astrologer's cave Where I can fashion eclogues that are chaste and grave.

John Ashbery
Therefore bivouac we  On this great, blond highway, unimpeded by  Veiled scruples, worn conundrums. Morning is  Impermanent. Grab sex things, swing up  Over the horizon like a boy  On a fishing expedition.

Therefore bivouac we On this great, blond highway, unimpeded by Veiled scruples, worn conundrums. Morning is Impermanent. Grab sex things, swing up Over the horizon like a boy On a fishing expedition.

John Ashbery
Most reckless things are beautiful in some way, and recklessness is what makes experimental art beautiful, just as religions are beautiful because of the strong possibilities that they are founded on nothing.

Most reckless things are beautiful in some way, and recklessness is what makes experimental art beautiful, just as religions are beautiful because of the strong possibilities that they are founded on nothing.

John Ashbery
I am often asked why I write, and I don't know really--I just want to.

I am often asked why I write, and I don't know really--I just want to.

John Ashbery
Once a happy old man One can never change the core of things, and light burns you the harder for it.

Once a happy old man One can never change the core of things, and light burns you the harder for it.

John Ashbery
The mind Is so hospitable, taking in everything Like boarders, and you don't see until It's all over how little there was to learn Once the stench of knowledge has dissipated.

The mind Is so hospitable, taking in everything Like boarders, and you don't see until It's all over how little there was to learn Once the stench of knowledge has dissipated.

John Ashbery
You stupefied me. We waxed,
Carnivores, late and alight
In the beaded winter. All was ominous, luminous.

You stupefied me. We waxed, Carnivores, late and alight In the beaded winter. All was ominous, luminous.

John Ashbery
Until only infinity remained of beauty

Until only infinity remained of beauty

John Ashbery
Some certified nut
Will try to tell you it's poetry,
(It's extraordinary, it makes a great deal of sense)
But watch out or he'll start with some
New notion or other....

Some certified nut Will try to tell you it's poetry, (It's extraordinary, it makes a great deal of sense) But watch out or he'll start with some New notion or other....

John Ashbery
So I cradle this average violin that knows
Only forgotten showtunes, but argues
The possibility of free declamation anchored
To a dull refrain....

So I cradle this average violin that knows Only forgotten showtunes, but argues The possibility of free declamation anchored To a dull refrain....

John Ashbery
And the way
Though discontinuous, and intermittent, sometimes
Not heard of for years at a time, did,
Nonetheless, move up, although, to his surprise
It was inside the house,
And always getting narrower.

And the way Though discontinuous, and intermittent, sometimes Not heard of for years at a time, did, Nonetheless, move up, although, to his surprise It was inside the house, And always getting narrower.

John Ashbery
Sometimes a musical phrase would perfectly sum up
The mood of a moment. One of those lovelorn sonatas
For wind instruments was riding past on a solemn white horse.
Everybody wondered who the new arrival was.

Sometimes a musical phrase would perfectly sum up The mood of a moment. One of those lovelorn sonatas For wind instruments was riding past on a solemn white horse. Everybody wondered who the new arrival was.

John Ashbery
The ellipse is as aimless as that,
Stretching invisibly into the future so as to reappear
In our present. Its flexing is its account,
Return to the point of no return.

The ellipse is as aimless as that, Stretching invisibly into the future so as to reappear In our present. Its flexing is its account, Return to the point of no return.

John Ashbery
Imagine a painter crucified by his subject!

Imagine a painter crucified by his subject!

John Ashbery
Each servant stamps the reader with a look.

Each servant stamps the reader with a look.

John Ashbery