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Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained | |||
The poem opens with an image of "long tables leading down to the sun," immediately establishing a scene that blends the mundane with the mythical. This setting, evocative of a communal gathering or feast, perhaps metaphorically represents life's journey, with the sun symbolizing an ultimate goal or destination. The "great gesture building" suggests the accumulation of experiences and actions over a lifetime, each contributing to the construction of an individual's essence or legacy. Ashbery's admonition to "play with it / And translate when its attention is deflated for the one second / Of eternity" speaks to the fleeting opportunities for understanding or making meaning within our lives. This notion of translation implies the effort to interpret or make sense of life's experiences, a task marked by both its critical importance and its inherent difficulty. The reference to "extreme patience and persistence" underscores the challenges involved in this endeavor, yet the assertion that "everybody succeeds at this before being handed / The surprise box lunch of the rest of his life" introduces a paradoxical twist. This line suggests that, despite the complexities of life, there is a commonality to the human experience—a shared journey toward an unknown future, encapsulated in the metaphor of a "surprise box lunch." The poem then shifts to a more specific setting, "In Zurich," where everything was "pure and purposeful," creating a stark contrast with the earlier, more abstract imagery. The "red cars / Swung around the lake on wires" evoke a sense of order and beauty, yet this scene is described as being at odds with the speaker's desires or expectations, emphasizing the disjunction between aspiration and reality. Ashbery's meditation on the nature of legend and storytelling, "Therefore our legends always come around to seeming legendary," reflects on the ways in which our lives and actions become mythologized. This process of becoming "legendary" suggests both a distancing from the original truth and a transformation that imbues these narratives with a sense of significance and universality. The "path decorated with our comings and goings" symbolizes the individual and collective journeys that comprise the human experience, marked by both presence and absence, permanence and transience. "Vegetarians" ultimately presents a nuanced exploration of existence, juxtaposing the concrete and the abstract, the individual and the collective, the mundane and the mythic. Ashbery's poem invites readers to reflect on the ways in which life's meaning is constructed and deconstructed, remembered and forgotten. Through its intricate imagery and thematic depth, the poem encourages a contemplation of the complexities of life, the inevitability of change, and the enduring quest for understanding amidst the ephemeral nature of existence.
| Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WINTER TREE by WALTER R. ADAMS ODES: BOOK 1: ODE 5. AGAINST SUSPICION by MARK AKENSIDE THE GRAVE OF COLUMBUS by JOANNA BAILLIE A PORTRAIT by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE CONVERSION by RALPH WILHELM BERGENGREN |
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