New, Helpful Ashbery Recordings on PennSound

When I got home yesterday, I had an e-mail from one of the PennSound workstudies, Rebekah, who let me know that she'd just posted a few new recordings from John Ashbery, including two with might be of particular interest to you. You can access all of them by following this link to PennSound's front page, where you can follow the individual links in the write-up.

First, I'd recommend listening to the first few minutes of the 1999 BBC Radio 3 program. It begins with a short profile of the poet, and talks a little bit about his development. This is followed by a great reading, but for now, the profile's more than enough.

Second, if you'd like to get a lesson on how to analyze an Ashbery poem straight from the source, check out the 1966 interview on WKCR Radio, in which the host makes the poet go line-by-line through "These Lacustrine Cities," explaining his word choices, intentions, etc. You can tell that it's kind of a painful experience for Ashbery, but he dutifully takes the poem apart for listeners, and it might be helpful for you to listen. Between the reading and the explanation, it's about 15 minutes or so.

Don't forget we have a quiz tomorrow, so be prepared to answer questions on the New York School in general (keep the Lehman readings from the 2nd class in mind), on the use of forms in Ashbery (think of the poems whose forms we've talked about in class, or the forms of which I've mentioned on this blog). I'm almost 100% certain that you'll also have a short poem to analyze as well.