Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Cloud of Unknowing" by John Ashbery is a poem that explores the elusive nature of memory, experience, and the intersection of reality and imagination. Ashbery's signature style of blending vivid imagery with a stream-of-consciousness narrative is evident throughout the poem, creating a dreamlike and sometimes disorienting experience for the reader.

The poem begins with an intriguing metaphor of a cloud that is "not a cloud at all" but a wall, immediately setting the tone for a journey through shifting perceptions and realities. This cloud-wall acts as a gateway to various scenes and experiences, moving fluidly between different settings and times.

Ashbery takes the reader on a global journey, from an Italian restaurant in the Sahara to a ferry ride from Dover, then to a bleak landscape in Leningrad, and finally to a quaint Russian village. Each location is rendered with precise details that evoke a strong sense of place, yet there's an underlying sense of dislocation and surrealism.

The experiences recounted in the poem are a mix of the mundane and the extraordinary. The narrator's interactions with characters like the white-tunicked waiters, the Orthodox priest, and the father-son pickpocket team in Mexico City add layers of human connection to the narrative. However, these interactions are fleeting and sometimes surreal, highlighting the transient nature of human encounters.

Throughout the poem, there is a sense of searching and longing, as if the narrator is trying to grasp something just out of reach. The recurring image of the cloud symbolizes this elusive quest, representing the unknown and the unknowable.

The poem concludes with a scene at Heathrow Airport, where the loss of a passport and the interaction with the Pakistani woman at the gate bring the themes of identity and communication into focus. The narrator's fixation on the languages she speaks, particularly Urdu, suggests a desire to connect and understand, even in the face of confusion and uncertainty.

"Cloud of Unknowing" is a quintessential Ashbery poem, characterized by its rich tapestry of images, its meandering narrative, and its exploration of the boundaries between reality and imagination. It invites multiple readings and interpretations, each offering a different glimpse into the clouded, mysterious world Ashbery creates.

POEM TEXT: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/christopher-edgar-third-annual-poetry-contest-winner-christopher-edgar/

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