John Asbery: Syringa Garai Szabolcs

This poem is again a free-verse about poetry, and supposedly about some other things too.
The main issue besides poetry, that turns up only later in the poem, may be the theme of
passing by and the question of past and present.
The poet in the first half of the poem uses the Greek mythological figure of Orpheus and his
relatives as the metaphor of the relevance of time-matters and the ephemeral nature of things.
eeing a!are of the story of Orpheus is needful to understand the references to Greek
mythology. Orpheus !as an ancient musician"!hich may be a metaphor for the poet"son
of #alliope and $pollo, the latter of them is also mentioned in the poem. Orpheus had the
skills of playing music and singing songs so beautifully that even animals and beasts !ere
amazed and fascinated by it. Once he married %urydice, a nymph, !ho !as later bit by a
snake and died. The poem also refers to Orpheus& trip to 'ades and his unsuccessful attempt
to free his !oman from there( )*%urydice vanished into the shade+. This means that Orpheus
!as offered the chance to take her out from 'ades if he could stand not having a look at her
during their escape. ut he could not and thus %urydice disappeared and they never sa! each
other again.
The theme of transitoriness of things arise too in the first part of the poem. The poet claims
that Orpheus made a mistake !hen he !anted to take his !ife out of the Other!orld, and then
grieved !hen he did not succeed. ,or she !ould have other!ise vanished like everybody else,
even if he had managed to get her out !ith him. )$ll other things must change too+, says the
poet, again referring to the constant change that nobody can steer clear of, and there is no use
dealing !ith the events of the past. ut instead $shbery suggests that one"obviously the
poets"should pay attention to the present and things !hich are important in life at the
moment, for e-ample love.
The title of the poem is a kind of enigma, !hich is quite difficult to solve, for there is no
further reference in the poem to the syringa, !hich is a type of flo!er. ,lo!er, though, turn up
in lines )*sparkling yello! flo!ers.Gro!ing around the brink of the quarry+. /n this conte-t
poetry is brought together !ith the yello! flo!er, in the sense that accurate poetry rivals the
beauty of nature.
$nother interpretation of the title has again a mythological reference. The !ord syringa
harmonize !ith synin-, !hich !as named after Syrin- from Greek mythology. /n the poem
the !ord reed refers to her, for, according to the myth, she !as transformed into that to
prevent her being raped by 0an, !ho later cut the reeds and made a pan-pipe of them. This
may also be a metaphor for poetry and the poet too.
/n the second stanza the poet starts !ith the suggested and acceptable issues of poetry( he
states again that poetry should not be about regrets and unquestioned facts of the past, for they
are no longer material for a poem.
/n the end of the poem t!o alternatives of the poetic self can be traced. One possibility of
the poet is to be famous and reno!ned, that is )stellificated+. ut this happens only to the
lucky fe!, others& names do not survive, but only persist in similar syllables of different
names.