Paradoxes and Oxymorons | Stanza 3 Summary
The “outside thing” in the first line might refer to the world outside the poem itself, the world from which the poem springs. “A dreamed rolepattern” suggests both structure and randomness, which the poet suggests is the stuff of “play.” The second and third lines are enigmas, that is, Ashbery gives no clue as to how “a dreamed rolepattern” and “the division of grace these long August days / Without proof” are similar. One possibility is that Ashbery finished composing the poem during August. In his endnotes on Shadow Train, John Shoptaw lists the composition date of...
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