18 pages • 36 minutes read
The Painter
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
Unlike most of both Ashbery’s poems and the poems of his contemporaries, “The Painter” adheres to a strict traditional form. While the poem does not keep any regular metrical pattern, it is an almost typical example of a sestina. Sestinas are an old form, generally considered to have originated in 12th-century France. They are composed of six six-line stanzas (or sestets) concluded with one three-line stanza (or tercet) called the envoi. Each of the sestets concludes on one of six distinct words, which are the only six words used to conclude lines in the entirety of the poem.
On a first glance, the six end-words might seem shuffled at random from sestet to sestet. However, the sestina follows a distinct pattern of folding order—one that Ashbery’s poem (almost) exactly follows. If we label each end-word with a number based on its first appearance, “buildings” is 1, “portrait” 2, “prayer” 3, “subject” 4, “brush” 5, and “canvas” 6 (Lines 1-6). This leads to a pattern of six sestets that adhere to the following order of end-words: 1 2 3 4 5 6, 6 1 5 2 4 3, 3 6 4 1 2 5, 5 3 2 6 1 4, 4 5 1 3 6 2, and 2 4 6 5 3 1. A pattern-minded reader might notice that if the pattern were to continue for one more stanza (a 7th sestet), it would return to the initial order of 1 2 3 4 5 6.
This pattern appears complex and, though it is, the order of words is less difficult to follow than it is to explain the nature of the pattern. However, the rigorous rigidity of repeated words does give the sestina a reputation as one of the most demanding poetic forms. Although “The Painter” does not declare itself as a sestina in the title, such a practice is not uncommon simply because writing a good poem under such rigid requirements requires a fair amount of virtuosity.
However, before leaving a discussion of the sestina form, it is important to address the concluding tercet that varies the form. The envoi is only half the length of its preceding stanzas, though it is still required to contain all six end-words. The final stanza achieves this by containing two end-words per line, with one appearing somewhere in the middle of the line. Traditionally, the envoi follows a 2-5, 4-3, 6-1 pattern. However, Ashbery somewhat varies this final requirement, structuring his tercet in the following pattern: 2-1, 6-5, 4-3.
Parable Narrative
Ashbery is not known as a narrative poet. Ashbery’s poetry is generally considered difficult or hermetic, as it tends to eschew easily graspable, definitive subjects. While “The Painter” discusses art that eschews these things, the poem is somewhat straightforward. This clarity is due to the literary device of parable that Ashbery uses to communicate his ideas. A parable, similar to an allegory, is a simple narrative that communicates a moral. In this way, parables are a rhetorical device where an abstract argument about ideas is converted into a symbolic story used to communicate that argument.
The sestina form lends itself to parables in that it is dominated by the six end-words. This continual repetition of elements pairs well with simple stories that contain few elements that are developed into symbols used to communicate an argument. In “The Painter,” Ashbery communicates a view of art, representationalism, and the power-relationship of art to society by means of his parable about the painter, the sea, and the building dwellers.
Consonance
While Ashbery’s poem is characterized by its narrative, symbols, and sestina form, it also uses a variety of “smaller” poetic devices throughout. One such device is its use of sound to create textual cohesion and aural beauty, namely consonance. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in multiple words. Alliteration is a type of consonance defined by the repetition of sounds specifically at the start of words.
Ashbery’s use of consonance is sometimes subtle, as with the poem’s opening line, “Sitting between the sea and the buildings” (Line 1). Here, “s” sounds are repeated in “Sitting” “sea” and “buildings” (the repetition of “s” sounds in particular is called sibilance, another subset of consonance) (Line 1). Ashbery maintains a subtle musical link between the parts of his poem, as with the repetition of “sh” sounds in “rush” and “brush” (Line 5). The poem is rife with examples, as with the repletion of both “l” and “s” sounds in: “Select […] / Something less […] large, and more subject” (Lines 10-11). At other times, Ashbery’s use of consonance is obvious, as with the alliteration in “malicious mirth” (Line 28), or “the sea to sit” (Line 30).
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