Other Traditions

“An entertaining and shrewd little book … Ashbery is an accomplished raconteur.” —Charles Simic, New York Review of Books

The most influential American poet of his generation appraises the lesser-known writers who shaped his own confounding, infinitely inventive work.

John Ashbery was the quintessential “difficult poet.” When asked to explain his work, he typically responded by insisting that his poetry was its own explanation. Fittingly, then, when he was invited to deliver the Norton Lectur...