John Ashbery was born on July 28, 1927, in Rochester, New York, and spent his childhood on a farm near Lake Ontario. His early life was notably affected by the death of his younger brother, an event that cast a long shadow over him. He attended Harvard, where he formed close friendships with fellow poets Kenneth Koch and Frank O'Hara — relationships that would later define what critics referred to as the New York School of poetry.
After his time at Harvard, Ashbery moved on to Columbia and then won a Fulbright scholarship that took him to France. He ended up living in Paris for most of the 1950s and into the 1960s, working as an art critic and immersing himself in the vibrant atmosphere of a city still alive with modernist energy. This period abroad sharpened his eye for visual arts and deepened his interest in how meaning is created — and sometimes dismantled — in a work of art.
“Upon returning to the United States, Ashbery settled in New York, continuing to write art criticism alongside his poetry, eventually becoming the executive editor of Art News.”
His dual role as poet and critic wasn't contradictory; he viewed both painting and poetry as processes rather than mere products. He was attracted to Abstract Expressionism for the same reason he was drawn to complex syntax — both forms resisted delivering a straightforward message.
His 1975 collection *Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror* garnered the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, a rare achievement that confirmed his status as a significant figure in poetry. The title poem, a lengthy meditation on a Renaissance painting by Parmigianino, stands out as one of the most acclaimed poems of the twentieth century.
