"The Painter," by John Ashbery
Author: John Ashbery
Sitting between the sea and the buildings
He enjoyed painting the sea’s portrait.
But just as children imagine a prayer
Is merely silence, he expected his subject
To rush up the sand, and, seizing a brush,
Plaster its own portrait on the canvas.
So there was never any paint on his canvas
Until the people who lived in the buildings
Put him to work: “Try using the brush
As a means to an end.
Select, for a portrait,
Something less angry and large, and more subject
To a painter’s moods, or, perhaps, to a prayer.”
How could he explain to them his prayer
That nature, not art, might usurp the canvas?
He chose his wife for a new subject,
Making her vast, like ruined buildings,
As if, forgetting itself, the portrait
Had expressed itself without a brush.
Slightly encouraged, he dipped his brush
In the sea, murmuring a heartfelt prayer:
“My soul, when I paint this next portrait
Let it be you who wrecks the canvas.”
The news spread like wildfire through the buildings:
He had gone back to the sea for his subject.
Imagine a painter crucified by his subject!
Too exhausted even to lift his brush,
He provoked some artists leaning from the buildings
To malicious mirth: “We haven’t a prayer
Now, of putting ourselves on canvas,
Or getting the sea to sit for a portrait!”
Others declared it a self-portrait.
Finally all indications of a subject
Began to fade, leaving the canvas
Perfectly white.
He put down the brush.
At once a howl, that was also a prayer,
Arose from the overcrowded buildings.
They tossed him, the portrait, from the tallest of the buildings;
And the sea devoured the canvas and the brush
As though his subject had decided to remain a prayer.
John Ashbery, “The Painter” from Some Trees. Copyright © 1956 by John Ashbery. Reprinted with the permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc. on behalf of the author. Source: The Mooring of Starting Out: The First Five Books of Poetry (Ecco Press, 1997)
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I’m the Tech Liaison for the New York City Writing Project. I… (more)
I’m the Tech Liaison for the New York City Writing Project. I… (more)
The three important themes in this poem are: the power of art, nature’s power to transform, and the limitations of human perception. An inanimate object that could embody this analogy could be a wave crashing on the beach, depicted in a painting style reminiscent of Kehinde Wiley. The text-to-image prompt is: A wave overcoming a beach in the early dawn, painted in a Kehinde Wiley-style composition, symbolizes the powerful transformation of art, nature, and human perception.
Remember AI is just a Thinking Partner in this process. Be sure to edit this prompt to make it say what you want it to say. Copy and paste this prompt into an image generator like https://StableDiffusionWeb.com..
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Tentatively, it appears that the main theme of the poem is the artist’s relationship, and ultimately surrender, to nature. The artist prays for the sea to take charge of his artwork and overtake the canvas, leaving him out of control. He is put ‘on trial’ and ultimately rejected by the people who live in the buildings. This poem reflects the idea that nature is greater than man, and art is ultimately an expression of nature.
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In the context of my life, I can relate to this message as I often struggle to maintain control in my life. There are times when I feel as though I am standing trial for the things that I have done and left undone, and although I strive for perfection and excellence, I can feel “cast out” by those around me. This poem serves as a reminder that I should find peace in knowing that I cannot always be in control, and that sometimes I just need to surrender and allow life to take its course.
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Based on the Lexile Level chart, I can only understand words and concepts up till the 8th grade level which is around a 1010L – 1150L. So, while I cannot conclusively answer your question, I understand that the painter struggles to express his emotions on his canvas. He is trying to capture a picture of the sea, but he eventually fails to do so. His subjects (wife, nature, sea) all fail to be properly depicted on the canvas. In the end the sea “devours” the canvas, destroying the experienced painter’s work. It seems to me that the painter is attempting to express a powerful emotion in the painting, but he eventually realizes that it cannot be adequately expressed on the canvas, so it remains a “prayer.”
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