Paris, 1959. Photo by Walter Silver.
"The greatest American poet of the last fifty years has died. I read and taught John Ashbery for years, and occasionally wrote about him. The idea of greatness clung about him as it does to only a handful of writers alive at any time. His early work was serene and beautiful; he then became rather frantic and trippy. He had a period of majesty unrivalled in recent poetry, stretching from the seventies through the nineties. His last phase was a kind of inventory of his mind, among the most interesting anyone has ever known. His method was to 'snip off a length' of his consciousness, he said. It was, in part, a strike against the solemnities of achieved reputation, which confronted him everywhere in the forms of syllabi and colloquia. ..."
New Yorker - Postscript: John Ashbery
"John Ashbery, an enigmatic genius of modern poetry whose energy, daring and boundless command of language raised American verse to brilliant and baffling heights, died early Sunday at age 90. Ashbery, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and often mentioned as a Nobel candidate, died at his home in Hudson, New York. His husband, David Kermani, said his death was from natural causes. Few poets were so exalted in their lifetimes. Ashbery was the first living poet to have a volume published by the Library of America dedicated exclusively to his work. His 1975 collection, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, was the rare winner of the American book world’s unofficial triple crown: the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle prize. In 2011, he was given a National Humanities Medal and credited with changing 'how we read poetry'. ..."
Guardian: Poet John Ashbery dies age 90
Guardian: The Songs We Know Best: John Ashbery’s Early Life by Karin Roffman
Guardian: John Ashbery obituary (Video)
NY Times: John Ashbery, a Singular Poet Whose Influence Was Broad, Dies at 90
W - John Ashbery
PennSound (Video)
Photograph: Eamonn McCabe
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