''Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror'' is a 1975 poetry collection by the American writer John Ashbery. The title, shared with its final poem, comes from the painting of the same name by the Late Renaissance artist

Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, B ...

. The book won the Pulitzer Prize, the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

, and the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

poetic style that attracted little critical notice—and the few reviews he did receive were usually negative. His first collection, ''Some Trees''(1956), was chosen by

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

as the winner of that year's

Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the Uni ...

. Despite this, evidence suggests that Auden—whom Ashbery frequently described as his most significant literary influence—did not actually enjoy Ashbery's writing. Ashbery adopted an

style for '' The Tennis Court Oath''(1962) at the cost of brutally negative reviews. Critics derided the book as incomprehensible and absent of any redeeming qualities, which almost drove Ashbery to quit writing poetry altogether. He was grouped with the so called " New York School", a loose collection of modern poets with ties to the contemporary art and new music scenes in New York City. The group included his close friend

Frank O'Hara Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...

, as well as

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; 27 February 1925 – 6 July 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77. He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets includ ...

James Schuyler James Marcus Schuyler (November 9, 1923 – April 12, 1991) was an American poet. His awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1980 collection ''The Morning of the Poem''. He was a central figure in the New York School and is of ...

, and

Barbara Guest Barbara Guest, ''née'' Barbara Ann Pinson (September 6, 1920 – February 15, 2006), was an American poet and prose stylist. Guest first gained recognition as a member of the first generation New York School of poetry. Guest wrote more than ...

. Though Ashbery thought the label was ridiculous—he lived in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, not New York, from 1956 until the mid-1960s—it helped to raise his profile. His third collection, ''Rivers and Mountains''(1966), was nominated for a

and received modest praise from critics. Asked in 1976 about the widely held opinion that his early poems were “too difficult”, if not outright impossible to understand, he replied: Having resigned himself to the idea that he would always be met with "this incomprehension" from the few readers he had, he said he decided to "make the best of a bad situation of someone who was destined never to have an audience"—though he realized the irony that, after ''Self-Portrait'', he had in fact finally drawn an audience.

Ashbery and Parmigianino's painting

----

Ashbery first saw a copy of

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

painting ''

Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror ''Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror'' (c. 1524) is a painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Parmigianino. It is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. History The work is mentioned by Late Renaissance art biographer Gi ...

'' in 1950. At that time, Ashbery was pursuing an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in English Literature at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Having no plans for the summer and dreading that he would fail his upcoming final exams, he decided on impulse to postpone the exams, return home to

Sodus, New York Sodus is a town in Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 8,384 at the 2010 census. The town takes its name from a native word for the bay in the eastern part of the town: "Assorodus," meaning "silvery water." The Town of Sod ...

, and visit O'Hara in Boston. On the train home from Boston, he read the July 16 ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and came across "The Magic and Mystery of Artist Parmigianino", a review of a new book on Parmigianino by the art historian Sydney Freedberg. The article included a reproduction of ''Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror'', which had had such a profound impression on him that he wrote to friends about the "truly divine Parmigianino." In 1959, Ashbery viewed the original painting at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He was struck by "the strangeness and perfection of the whole enterprise, and the dreamlike image of the beautiful young man", and especially its title lingered in his memory. During a 1973 trip to

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...

, he purchased an inexpensive portfolio of Parmigianino's artwork from the window of a bookstore. The painting stirred him into contemplation once again, and he "slowly began to write a poem about it."

Publication

John Ashbery (MCA poetry reading poster, 1977)

The first edition was published by

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

on May 15, 1975. The edition ran to 3,500 hardcover copies and featured a blue, green, and black geometric design on the dust jacket. A party was held at

Gotham Book Mart The Gotham Book Mart was a famous Midtown Manhattan bookstore and cultural landmark that operated from 1920 to 2007. The business was located first in a small basement space on West 45th Street near the Theater District, then moved to 51 West 47 ...

in midtown Manhattan to celebrate the publication. Two paperback editions were published the next year, by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Carcanet Press in the United Kingdom. It became Ashbery's first book published with Carcanet. Ashbery dedicated ''Self-Portrait'' to his partner and later husband, David Kermani. It was his second dedication to Kermani, after ''Three Poems''(1973), with many more to follow. After first meeting in 1970, they became lifelong partners.

Cover designs

The Penguin paperback cover features a glamorous photo portrait of Ashbery by Darragh Park. Journalist

Thomas Vinciguerra Thomas Vinciguerra (October 8, 1963 – February 22, 2021) was an American journalist, editor, and author. A founding editor of ''The Week'' magazine, he published about popular culture and other subjects in ''The New York Times'', as well as in ...

described Ashbery's pose as if in all hunky glory, hips slightly cocked", wearing a "windowpane shirt open to midchest" and "tight slacks

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

have no belt loops." Matthew Zapruder wrote that his look was a "simultaneously ill-advised and completely stylish ensemble."

Susan M. Schultz Susan M. Schultz (born 1958) is an American poet, critic, publisher and English professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She specializes in modern and contemporary poetry, American literature, and creative writing. She moved from Virginia ...

said the "cheesy" cover resembled a somewhat "cheap romance novel, like the kind you'd see near the checkout counter of a drugstore." The bold look contrasted sharply with the conservative, uniformly preppy style Ashbery had adhered to throughout the 1960s.

David Lehman David Lehman (born June 11, 1948David Lehman
at poets.org) is an American poet, non-fiction writer, and li ...

recalled that, when he met Ashbery in 1967, the poet typically wore "a tie and a jacket and he always looked very natty." According to Lehman, his change in style reflected the progress of the post- Stonewall

gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii ...

movement, as Ashbery could present himself as "more visibly and publicly who he was." Parmigianino's painting was not reproduced in early editions, a decision lamented by the critic Fred Moramarco, who said readers would be better able to appreciate the "reverberations" between the two works if they could view them simultaneously. Moramarco pointed out that the painting and poem had been published side-by-side in the January–February 1975 issue of the magazine '' Art in America''. Later editions of the book have incorporated the painting into the cover design.

The collection contains 35 poems, comprising a mix of new and previously published works; the latter had appeared in various American literary magazines between November 1972 and April 1975. A decade after its publication, 11 of its verse were collected as part of Ashbery's ''Selected Poems''(1985). The entire book was included in his ''Collected Poems 1956–1987'', published by the

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published over 300 volumes by authors rang ...

in 2008. File:The Georgia Review (Winter 1974).jpg, ''

The Georgia Review ''The Georgia Review'' is a literary journal based in Athens, Georgia. Founded at University of Georgia in 1947, the journal features poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, and visual art. The journal has won National Magazine Awards for Fiction ...

'' (Winter 1974) File:New York Review of Books (April 3, 1975).png, ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

'' (April 3, 1975) File:Iowa Review (Winter 1975).png, '' The Iowa Review'' (Winter 1975) File:Ohio Review (Winter 1975).jpg, ''The Ohio Review'' (Winter 1975) File:Partisan Review, Winter 1975 (Vol 42, No 1).jpg, ''

Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affiliated Joh ...

'' (Winter 1975)

Poems

"On Autumn Lake" makes ironic use of "

Engrish ''Engrish'' is a slang term for the inaccurate, nonsensical or ungrammatical use of the English language by native speakers of Japanese, as well as Chinese and other Asian languages. The word itself relates to Japanese speakers' tendency to ...

" in its opening lines: Stephen J. Ross called these lines "a cringe-worthy parody of speech" and compared them with other instances from Ashbery's oeuvre of " orientalist" tropes in (purposefully) "

bad taste ''Bad Taste'' is a 1987 New Zealand science-fiction comedy horror film directed, produced and filmed by Peter Jackson, who also stars in and co-wrote the screenplay, along with Tony Hiles and Ken Hammon. Independently produced on a low budge ...

", some more nuanced than others. Bonnie Costello quoted these lines—and, unlike the previous two critics, included "stop it! I will not"—as part of an analysis of Ashbery's relationship with the reader. The poet is "constantly testing his authorial power" and "will provoke the reader with perverse behavior, momentarily suspending the fact that the reader can veto by his indifference." But elsewhere, these instances of authorial "self-assurance" are counterposed and "repeatedly mocked by images of the reader's forgetfulness, lapses of attention, ultimate silence. ... The writer doesn't have mastery over the reader ... or even over his text, except insofar as he has preempted the reader's recalcitrance by including it."

Style

As with much of Ashbery's poetry, ''Self-Portrait'' was influenced by contemporary developments in modern art, particularly painting. Since his early career, he felt poetry lagged behind the other arts, and sought to appropriate the techniques and effects of avant-garde painting, such as Cubism's "simultaneity" and abstract expressionism's "idea that the work is a sort of record of its own coming-into-existence", though he emphasized that his method was not random "like flinging a bucket of words on the page, as

Pollock Pollock or pollack (pronounced ) is the common name used for either of the two species of North Atlantic marine fish in the genus ''Pollachius''. '' Pollachius pollachius'' is referred to as pollock in North America, Ireland and the United Kingd ...

had with paint." Ashbery was receptive to the idea that his poems could be understood as works of Mannerism—the Late Renaissance style that included Parmigianino's eponymous painting—but only the "pure novelty" of early Mannerists like Parmigianino, not the artificiality associated with the movement's later period.

Interpretation

Critics generally described ''Self-Portrait'' as some of Ashbery's most accessible poetry, especially when compared to his more challenging, avant-garde work like the earlier collection '' The Tennis Court Oath''(1962) or the book-length poem ''

Flow Chart A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents a workflow or process. A flowchart can also be defined as a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm, a step-by-step approach to solving a task. The flowchart shows the steps as boxes of v ...

''(1991). Nevertheless, attempts at interpreting—or even comprehending—the poems in ''Self-Portrait'' remain difficult. Ashbery did not regard the collection as more accessible than his earlier work. In a 1976 interview with

Richard Kostelanetz Richard Cory Kostelanetz (born May 14, 1940) is an American artist, author, and critic. Birth and Education Kostelanetz was born to Boris Kostelanetz and Ethel Cory and is the nephew of the conductor Andre Kostelanetz. He has a B.A. (1962) from ...

for ''The New York Times'', he said the title poem only seemed "more accessible" because of its "essayistic thrust" but

close reading In literary criticism, close reading is the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of a text. A close reading emphasizes the single and the particular over the general, effected by close attention to individual words, the syntax, ...

would reveal it to be as "disjunct and fragmented" as his earlier poem "Europe", from ''The Tennis Court Oath''(1962). "It's really not about the Parmigianino painting," Ashbery said; the ostensible subject was merely "a pretext for a lot of reflections and asides that are as tenuously connected to the core as they are in many of my poems which ... tend to spread out from a core idea." Kostelanetz said Ashbery's "most profound heresy" was the belief "that a poem ''should'' remain mostly inscrutable, no matter how long or closely anyone studies it." Although Ashbery refrained from imposing his own interpretation on the reader, he rejected the idea that his poetry was political. For instance, Stephen Paul Miller wrote an essay theorizing that "Self-Portrait" was an elaborate commentary on the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's contin ...

, noting the poem was first published by ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

'' in August 1974—the same month

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

announced his

resignation Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

. Ashbery told Miller that the poem had "nothing to do with Watergate, and more importantly, it was written before Watergate happened," to which Miller replied it made "absolutely no difference" to him when the poem had been written. In Miller's recollection, Ashbery joked "So you're comparing me to Nixon? Someday you'll get yours," then asserted that his poetry was not political in nature.

Critical response

The initial academic and press reviews were generally positive, and especially praised the titular poem. Many critics described the collection as Ashbery's best work to date and among the best works of contemporary American poetry.

Harold Bloom's influence on other critics

Much of the early literary critic and peer opinion was heavily influenced by

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...

, an early champion of Ashbery who had predicted the poet would "come to dominate the last third of the century as

Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

dominated the first." Bloom—a high-profile literary critic best known as the author of ''

The Anxiety of Influence ''The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry'' is a 1973 book by Harold Bloom. It was the first in a series of books that advanced a new "revisionary" or antithetical approach to literary criticism. Bloom's central thesis is that poets are hin ...

''(1973)—had applauded Ashbery's early works and considered him as a "strong" or "great" American poet, a successor to

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

, and

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

. Bloom's review of ''Self-Portrait'', published in ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'', was quoted in a

blurb A blurb is a short promotional piece accompanying a piece of creative work. It may be written by the author or publisher or quote praise from others. Blurbs were originally printed on the back or rear dust jacket of a book, and are now also fou ...

for the book's

dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back boo ...

: References to Stevens were commonplace in early reviews of the ''Self-Portrait'' collection and, whether they reflected or rejected Bloom's interpretation, they demonstrated his influence in any case. Although Bloom raised Ashbery's profile, other critics have objected to his stewardship of Ashbery's reputation. In 1975, John N. Morris mocked the tone of Bloom's blurb as over-bearing and portentous, sarcastically calling him "solemn and tremendous as History Itself": In

's reading, Bloom's reviews imposed his own ideas and denigrated any of Ashbery's qualities beyond or contrary to his Stevens-centered analysis. Schultz interpreted parts of Ashbery's poetry, beginning with "Self-Portrait", as veiled retorts to Bloom and other

literary theorists Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

who would narrowly categorize the bounds of his work.

In academic literary journals

In ''

The American Poetry Review ''The American Poetry Review'' (''APR'') is an American poetry magazine printed every other month on tabloid-sized newsprint. It was founded in 1972 by Stephen Berg and Stephen Parker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The magazine's editor is Elizabet ...

'', Fred Moramarco—a poet and professor of English at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

—wrote that he had long considered Ashbery to be "a poet to be reckoned with" and a "painterly" innovator who had become the poetry community's "own liberating version of

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...

". The new collection marked, for Moramarco, a "culmination" of Ashbery's work thus far. He praised the range of Ashbery's style, which he called "unparalleled among contemporary writers," and singled out the title poem for praise: "I don't regard it a very risky prophecy to suggest that this poem will shortly be regarded as a masterpiece, a classic of its genre, as elegant and erudite a poem as has appeared in this country in very many years."

Richard Howard Richard Joseph Howard (October 13, 1929 – March 31, 2022; adopted as Richard Joseph Orwitz) was an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a graduate of Columbia University, w ...

, writing for ''

'' magazine, cautioned that Ashbery's poetry contained "long, radiant visions, cross-cut by the usual ... opacities of diction and association" that the reader "may like or loathe, depending," but he said " ere is no choice, however, about the title poem, and half a dozen others, which are, as everyone seems to be saying, among the finest things American poetry has to show, and certainly the finest things Ashbery has yet shown."

In the popular press

Writing for '' Harper's Magazine'', the writer

Paul Auster Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), '' The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The ...

described Ashbery's method as a reversal of "no ideas but in things"—a

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...

phrase that represented, in his opinion, "a widespread tendency in twentieth-century American thought and literature." Although Ashbery, like his peers, "begins with the world of perceived objects, perception itself is problematical for him, and he is never able to rely on the empirical certitudes that nearly all our poets seem to take for granted." Auster found Ashbery's "utter faithfulness to his own subjectivity" more similar to poetry by 19th-century French Symbolists, like

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

, and Stéphane Mallarmé, than to poetry by his contemporaries. Overall, Auster said Ashbery's previous works had "all been rather uneven" and ''Self-Portrait'' was "no exception": a mixed bag of "exquisite successes" like the title poem on the one hand and, on the other, "many bad poems" and "far too many passages in which he exploits his sensibility to the point where it serves as little more than an excuse for ironic evasion." Reviewing the collection for ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine in 1976, Paul Gray wrote:

Awards

''Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror'' received three major literary prizes: the

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

, the

National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

, and the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

" of American literature.; ; ; . The

National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the National Book Critics C ...

(NBCC)—at that time a two-year-old organization of 300 critics and editors—announced the winners of its first awards in January 1976. It marked not only the NBCC Awards' inaugural year, but the first American literary prizes awarded by a group of critics. The

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

announced its nominees for the

s in March; alongside Ashbery, the candidates in the poetry category were

Richard Hugo Richard Hugo (December 21, 1923 – October 22, 1982), born Richard Franklin Hogan, was an American poet. Although some critics regard Hugo as primarily a regionalist, his work resonates broadly across place and time. A portion of Hugo's work re ...

, P.J. Lanka, John N. Morris, Leonard Nathan, George Omen, Carolyn M. Rodgers, and Shirley Williams. Ashbery was announced as the winner the following month. In May, Ashbery was announced as the winner of the Pulitzer. That year's jury—

Anthony Hecht Anthony Evan Hecht (January 16, 1923 – October 20, 2004) was an American poet. His work combined a deep interest in form with a passionate desire to confront the horrors of 20th century history, with the World War II, Second World War, in which ...

, and

Mark Strand Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014) was a Canadian-born American poet, essayist and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990 and received the Wallace Stevens Award in 2004 ...

—unanimously selected Ashbery, with

Howard Moss Howard Moss (January 22, 1922 – September 16, 1987) was an American poet, dramatist and critic. He was poetry editor of ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1948 until his death and he won the National Book Award in 1972 for ''Selected Poems''. B ...

Howard Nemerov Howard Nemerov (March 1, 1920 – July 5, 1991) was an American poet. He was twice Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, from 1963 to 1964 and again from 1988 to 1990. For ''The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov'' (1977) ...

, and

John Hollander John Hollander (October 28, 1929 – August 17, 2013) was an American poet and literary critic. At the time of his death, he was Sterling Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University, having previously taught at Connecticut College, Hunter ...

on the shortlist. Hecht prepared the Poetry Jury's report to the Pulitzer Committee. Given his earlier reputation as an inaccessible obscurantist, Ashbery was shocked by the accolades. The NBCC Award came as a "great surprise", he later said, though he was widely expected to win the Pulitzer months ahead of its announcement. Believing he could not possibly win both the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, he attended the latter ceremony. He later recalled that, after they announced his name, "I was caught in probably the only spontaneous photograph of me that exists."

Effect on Ashbery's stature

The collection's acclaim made Ashbery one of the preeminent American poets of his generation. According to Paul Auster, few recent books of American poetry had "provoked such unanimous praise and admiration," which was perhaps surprising given the "singularly bad press" for Ashbery's earlier work. While he had been recognized by a small, "fanatically devoted" following, he was more often dismissed as "obscure, meaningless, and willfully avant-garde" by "the lords of the literary establishment." The art critic

Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a bachelor's degree in English; ...

remarked in 1977 that Ashbery had "been elevated to an astonishing public renown" in the two years since the publication of ''Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror''. Kramer was reviewing new portraits of Ashbery by his longtime friend

Larry Rivers Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg) (1923 – 2002) was an American artist, musician, filmmaker, and occasional actor. Considered by many scholars to be the "Godfather" and "Grandfather" of Pop art, he was one of the first artists ...

, who had previously drawn portraits of Ashbery in the 1950s. Unlike the older portraits of Ashbery, Kramer said, Rivers's new paintings were "not so much portraits of a friend as portraits of a famous figure," which celebrated the poet's newfound renown by including lines from "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror" and Ashbery's next collection, ''Houseboat Days'', into the portraits themselves. By 1984,

David Lehman David Lehman (born June 11, 1948David Lehman
at poets.org) is an American poet, non-fiction writer, and li ...

said that Ashbery was "widely considered America's most significant contemporary poet" and that, since ''Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror'', "this allegedly hermetic poet has won a genuine and genuinely avid audience for his work." Lehman reported that ''Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror'' had by then sold 36,000 copies in hardcover and paperback editions. In 1998, Nicholas Jenkins of ''The New York Times'' described ''Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror'' as the work that "fix dhim in the poetic firmament—a strange position for one so devoted to mobility and restlessness. From that point, even his best critics began to celebrate him in nakedly chauvinistic terms as part of an 'American' line, stretching back to the Emerson of '

Circles A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

'." Years later, Ashbery developed mixed feelings about the title poem of ''Self-Portrait'', finding it to be too much like an essay and too remote in style from the rest of his body of work. In March 2005, the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

included it in a list of 31 "Groundbreaking Books" of American poetry. For

National Poetry Month National Poetry Month, a celebration of poetry which takes place each April, was introduced in 1996 and is organized by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. The Academy of Amer ...

in 2014, the online culture magazine ''

Flavorwire ''Flavorwire'' is a New York City-based online culture magazine. The site includes original feature articles, interviews, reviews, as well as content recycled from other sources. ''Flavorwire'' describes themselves as "a network of culturally con ...

'' named it among the "50 Essential Books of Poetry That Everyone Should Read". Shortly before his 90th birthday in 2017, by which time he had written 28 volumes of published poetry, biographer Karin Roffman recommended "Self-Portrait" as one of the ten poems by Ashbery that newcomers to his writing should read first.

Notes

Citations

Sources

Ashbery's writing

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Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Academic and literary journals

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Newspapers, magazines, and websites

* * Originally published as "Groundbreaking Books"; see archived link. * Originally published as "Groundbreaking Book: ''Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror'' by John Ashbery (1975)"; see archived link. * * * * * Also availabl
via the ''Harper's Magazine'' archive
at harpers.org . * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

''Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror''
entry at the

website
''Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror''
at the National Book Foundation blog, including an essay on the poem by Evie Shockley and other information *
Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
– the title poem in full, as first published in the August 1974 issue of ''

'' magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror 1975 poetry books American poetry collections English-language books English-language poems Poetry by John Ashbery Pulitzer Prize for Poetry-winning works National Book Award for Poetry winning works National Book Critics Circle Award-winning works Viking Press books Works based on art Works originally published in The New York Review of Books Works originally published in The New Yorker Works originally published in Partisan Review Works originally published in Poetry (magazine)

Ashbery and Parmigianino's painting

Publication

Cover designs

Contents

Poems

Style

Interpretation

Critical response

Harold Bloom's influence on other critics

In academic literary journals

In the popular press

Awards

Effect on Ashbery's stature

Notes

Citations

Sources

Ashbery's writing

Bibliography

Academic and literary journals

Newspapers, magazines, and websites

External links