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Some Trees

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Some Trees captures the imaginative life of the individual through a collection of poems that mark the beginning of John Ashbery's influential career. This 52nd volume of the Yale Series of Younger Poets reveals early signs of Ashbery's style, infused with elements of French surrealism and abstract expressionism.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Ideal for readers interested in modern poetry, literary history, and fans of avant-garde and surrealist influences in literature.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A capsule of the imaginative life of the individual, Some Trees is the 52nd volume of the Yale Series of Younger Poets.

Comparing him to T. S. Eliot, Stephanie Burt writes that Ashbery is “the last figure whom half of the English-language poets alive thought a great model, and the other half thought incomprehensible.” After the publication of Some Trees, selecting judge W. H. Auden famously confessed that he didn’t understand a word of it. Most reviews were negative. But in this first book of poems from one of the century’s most important poets, one finds the seeds of Ashbery’s oeuvre, including the influence of French surrealists—many of whom he translated—and abstract expressionism.

Series: Yale Series of Younger Poets

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  • Some Trees
    A capsule of the imaginative life of the individual, Some Trees is the 52nd volume of the Yale Series of Younger Poets. Comparing him to T. S. Eliot, Stephanie Burt writes that Ashbery is “the last figure whom half of the English-language poets alive thought a great model, and the other half thought incomprehensible.” After the publication of Some Trees,...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300246377

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 14 January 2020

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 210.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 96

About the Author

John Ashbery (1927–2017) was an American poet and former executive editor of Art News, former arts critic for New York Magazine and Newsweek, and former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1988 to 1999. His many collections include Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems, which was awarded the International Griffin Poetry Prize. Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror won the three major American prizes—the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. The Library of America published the first volume of his collected poems in 2008. His work has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.

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