Ashbery, John, 1927-, American poet, b. Rochester, N.Y., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1949), Columbia (M.A., 1951). Ashbery is among the most acclaimed of contemporary American poets. During the 1960s and 70s he was one of the so-called New York School of Poets, which also included Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler. Influenced early in his career by the method and music of John Cage, Ashbery has called his writing technique "managed chance." His poems are experimental in style and syntax, strongly visual, and narrative, but typically complex and somewhat obscure. His collections include Some Trees (1956), Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, his most celebrated work (1975; Pulitzer Prize), Shadow Train (1981), A Wave (1984), April Galleons (1987), And the Stars Were Shining (1994), Chinese Whispers (2002), Where Shall I Wander (2005), and Notes from the Air (2008). He has also written two book-length poems, Flow Chart (1991) and Girls on the Run (1999); three plays, The Compromise (1960), The Heroes (1960), and The Philosopher (1964); and coauthored a novel, A Nest of Ninnies (1969). Ashbery is also an art critic and edited the quarterly Art and Literature. Many of his art reviews and essays were collected in Reported Sightings (1989).

(born July 28, 1927, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. poet. He earned degrees from Harvard and Columbia universities and subsequently became known as an art critic. His poems, noted for their elegance, originality, and obscurity, are characterized by arresting images, exquisite rhythms, intricate form, and sudden shifts in tone and subject. His collections include The Double Dream of Spring (1970), Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award), A Wave (1984), Flow Chart (1991), and Wakefulness (1998).

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(born July 28, 1927, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. poet. He earned degrees from Harvard and Columbia universities and subsequently became known as an art critic. His poems, noted for their elegance, originality, and obscurity, are characterized by arresting images, exquisite rhythms, intricate form, and sudden shifts in tone and subject. His collections include The Double Dream of Spring (1970), Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award), A Wave (1984), Flow Chart (1991), and Wakefulness (1998).

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