Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror

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Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)

At a glance:

  • Author: John Ashbery
  • First Published: 1975
  • Type of Work: Meditation
  • Genres: Poetry
  • Subjects: Self-discovery

The Poem

“Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” is a long poem in free verse, its 552 lines divided into six verse paragraphs of unequal length. The title refers to a 1524 painting by the Italian artist Francesco Mazzola, also known as Il Parmigianino. “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” makes the poet’s thoughts about Parmigianino’s painting the focus for a different kind of self-portrait, a self-portrait in words.

Although a poet may use the first person as the voice of a persona, a character whose outlook and experience are quite different from the poet’s, in...

[The entire page is 2092 words long]

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