"At North Farm" is a poem by American poet and writer John Ashbery.
The poem first appeared in The New Yorker in 1984. [1] It was the opening poem of Ashbery's 1984 collection A Wave. [2] It was written soon after Ashbery almost died due to an infection. [3]
The poem is in part a reference to the epic poem Kalevala , which Ashbery revisited in his later poem "Finnish Rhapsody". [4]
The poem loosely adheres to the form of a sonnet, with the traditional fourteen lines and the octet/sestet of a Petrarchan sonnet. [5] Adhering to the format was not intentional on Ashbery's part. [5]
In her review of A Wave, Helen Vendler wrote that the poem deals with the pains of aging using clichés. [6]
The poem is evocative of W. H. Auden's work. [7] Auden had an influence on Ashbery early poetry, an influence that diminished over the course of his career.
Stephen Greenblatt, writing in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America , referred to the poem as "haunted by" Franz Kafka's brief parable "An Imperial Message". [8]
Although shorter and simpler than many of his most famous works, it is considered to be a well-known poem of Ashbery's. [4]
"At North Farm" is featured in the 2017 film Marjorie Prime , and John Ashbery is thanked by the director, Michael Almereyda, in the film's credits.