until only infinity remained of beauty
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the transcendence and enduring nature of beauty beyond temporal existence.
John Ashbery's quote 'until only infinity remained of beauty' implies that beauty, in its purest essence, exists beyond the constraints of time and the material world. It suggests that while physical forms may fade and change, the concept of beauty itself is eternal and infinite, allowing us to grasp a sense of timelessness through art and aesthetics.
In practice
In a discussion about art, one might say, 'As Ashbery suggests, beauty remains even when the world around us changes.'
The evening light was like honey in the trees When you left me and walked to the end of the street Where the sunset abruptly ended. The wedding-cake drawbridge lowered itself To the fragile forget-me-not flower. You climbed aboard. Burnt horizons suddenly paved with golden stones, Dreams I had, including suicide, Puff out the hot-air balloon now. It is bursting, it is about to burst
But always and sometimes questioning the old modes_x000D_ _x000D_ And the new wondering, the poem, growing up through the floor,_x000D_ _x000D_ Standing tall in tubers, invading and smashing the ritual_x000D_ _x000D_ Parlor, demands to be met on its own terms now,_x000D_ _x000D_ Now that the preliminary negotiations are at last over.
Then let yourself love all that you take delight in_x000D_ _x000D_ Accept yourself whole, accept the heritage_x000D_ _x000D_ That shaped you and is passed on from age to age_x000D_ _x000D_ Down to your entity. Remain mysterious;_x000D_ _x000D_ Rather than be pure, accept yourself as numerous.
The poem is sad because it wants to be yours, and cannot be.
The sun fades like the spreading_x000D_ _x000D_ Of a peacock's tail, as though twilight_x000D_ _x000D_ Might be read as a warning to those desperate_x000D_ _x000D_ For easy solutions.
Life is beautiful. He who reads that_x000D_ _x000D_ As in the window of some distant, speeding train_x000D_ _x000D_ Knows what he wants, and what will befall.
Actors are the only honest hypocrites.
All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!
To me, the great joy of writing is discovering. Most writers are told to write about what they know, but I still love the adventure of going out and reporting on things I don't know about.
The way to write a thriller is to ask a question at the beginning, and answer it at the end.
Pianists call me a composer, composers call me a pianist. The classicists think me a futurist, and the futurists call me a reactionary.
More and more people are seeing the films on computers - lousy sound, lousy picture - and they think they've seen the film, but they really haven't.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.