''Chinese Whispers'' is a 2002 poetry collection 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 ...

. It was Ashbery's 20th collection and consists of 65 individual poems.

Reception

Jeremy Noel Tod of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called Ashbery "a great nonsense poet", and held forward similarities between his poetry and that of

Samuel Foote Samuel Foote (January 1720 – 21 October 1777) was a British dramatist, actor and theatre manager. He was known for his comedic acting and writing, and for turning the loss of a leg in a riding accident in 1766 to comedic opportunity. Early l ...

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

and

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

. Tod grouped ''Chinese Whispers'' with Ashbery's last few collections, which he considered to also be concerned with time and old age, and wrote: "Although always oblique about the author's own life, these thick recent collections do feel like diaries. They are various, and they are of uneven quality. A more polished volume could have been compiled from about a third of the poems here. But it suits Ashbery to be prodigal and let the reader choose."

References

2002 poetry books American poetry collections Poetry by John Ashbery Farrar, Straus and Giroux books {{Poetry-collection-stub

Reception

See also

References