Flow Chart (poem)
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''Flow Chart'' is a long poem by the American writer
John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...
, published in its own volume in 1991.


Structure

''Flow Chart'' is a work of 4,794 lines, divided into six numbered chapters or parts, each of which is further divided into sections or verse-paragraphs, varying in number from seven to 42. The sections vary in length from one or two lines, to seven pages.


Reception

Scott Mahler wrote in the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'': "Ashbery's poetry has been called mysterious, original, difficult, dream-like, Romantic, a part of the continuum of American poetry that includes
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...
,
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
,
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
and
Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Inspired by the Romantics and his fellow Modernists, Crane wrote highly stylized poetry, often noted for its complexity. His collection '' White Buildings'' (1926), feat ...
. It's also been called elusive, inauthentic, unmusical and overmannered. ''Flow Chart'' is easily all of these things... Ashbery has shown us again that he can go more than the distance we expect of great poets, but neither the terrain he covers nor the course he takes is altogether very exciting. ''Flow Chart'' is a great accomplishment, but it sometimes reads more like a big effort than a real tour de force." The book was reviewed in ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'': "Ashbery invents and reinvents his self in this book-length stream-of-consciousness poem. In manically articulate free verse of long, supple lines, he conjures a secular landscape dotted with shadows of ancient gods... Ashbery (''Some Trees'') weaves a haunted, haunting music around ... big questions, squeezing joy, ennui, despair, hope and a thirst for belonging out of ordinary experience. Writing in ''
Contemporary Literature Contemporary literature is literature which is generally set after World War II and coincident with contemporary history. Subgenres of contemporary literature include contemporary romance and others. History Literary movements are always contemp ...
'', critic Nick Lolordo contends that ''Flow Chart'' is an "exemplary text" that points to Ashbery's central position in twentieth century poetry as an heir to
T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...
and
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
. Lolordo writes that ''Flow Chart''
is both the most daily, most environmental of Ashbery's works and the most historical: it constantly contextualizes the momentary, by positioning the act of writing within different schemes of time (phenomenological, personal-autobiographical, historical) and space (central, marginal, peripheral).


See also

*
1991 in poetry Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). Events * Forward Poetry Prize created * Dana Gioia, writing in ''The Atlantic Monthly'' suggests (in an article titled "C ...
*
American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...


References


Sources

* * * * 1991 poetry books 1991 poems American poems Poetry by John Ashbery {{Poem-stub