The Skaters (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Ashbery
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: History, Voyages, Philosophy or philosophers, Dreams, Reality, Accidents, Death or dying, Life, philosophy of, Stars, Belief or doubt, Motion, Ice skating
“The Skaters” has been sharply dismissed by many critics as being meaningless for the most part and being much less successful than the later poem “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” (1975) as an attempt at dealing with the problem of the poem in the late twentieth century. Even its supporters are less enthusiastic about it than they are about “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,” in part because it is a much more difficult poem. On the other hand, it can be explicated, but only in part, and the reader must eventually accept Ashbery's refusal (stated more than once in the...
[The entire page is 1231 words long]
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