CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

“Melodic Trains”
“Melodic Trains” is an informative, symbolic, meditative poem, imparting a
deep philosophy of life, in a simplicity which is typical of john Ashbery. The
poem deals with an image of journey through the train, but the poet travels
through the deep recess of human mind and tries to analyze the complexity
prevailing there. The poem is further tinged with Metaphysical strain.
Prevailing there. The poem is further tinged with Meta physical strain.
Personal feelings of the poet about some of the touching realities and curious
blend of reality and imagination makes it an unforgettable commentary on
the life around us. In short, the poem is deceptive. Simple at the apparent
level and has a hidden philosophy and the theme which may be beyond the
mental appreciation of the readers.

The start of this poem is dramatic and a bit suspenseful when we

witness the poet traveling through a train and is asked about the time by
young girl. However, her watch is a dummy and naturally there is no
conception of real time on it. The poet realizes that the girl is wearing the
watch just for fun, just a s some times adults use pipe or wear clothes for
furl. He then begins to think about the train and the way it travels across the
valley. The train seems to him as a pair of pencil and ruler moving against
the map of the Alps. To Ashbery; he and the little girl are the visitors who
watch the train as a symbol of curiosity.

As the poet thoroughly meditates over the various phenomenon

related with his journey on train. He also reaches an irritating aspect of it
The time table of the trains, thus departure and arrival, the affairs of the
station and other such events are not comprehensible to the poet. As he says:

“One begins to suspect there’s no

Rule or that it’s applied haphazardly”
The vague aspect of the system of trains creates a type of confusion
and chaos on the stations as well. When a train arrives at some station,
breaking the norms of schedule, there is ‘Sadness of the faces of children
and’ ‘concern of the grown ups!’ people look for either their relatives or
taxis so that they may be evacuated of tens situation, The passengers leaning
forward for various taxi- cabs give an image of Tower of pisa figures’ to the
poet. Ashbery being a poet and sensitive person has also noticed the
flustered temperaments of the people, right before reaching the final
destination. The passengers get so much anxious that they lose all the
sympathy and respect for other. This thought makes stirring questions “Why
couldn’t we have been more considerate?” Further the look on the faces of
the passengers makes him more tense as they seem dissatisfied and
frustrated. However, the poet ardently hopes that anxiety of these people
would somehow diminish when they would reach their homes.
After such long thoughts about his fellow passengers, the attention of
the poet is soon captured by the “bluish vague landscape”. He gets immersed
in the beauty of nature and forgets all that was going on in his mind for a
long time. The poet tells us how listening to the others can force us to lose
ourselves and loss of contact with ourselves. It is only by neglecting the
hustle and bustle around that one can enjoy the real beauty of the town
around. However, as the mediation of the poet and various views about the
entire journey go on, perhaps, he too realizes the end or the approaching end
of his own railway travel. The idea of reaching his destination creates the
image in which the people gather, tossing hats and preparing for welcome.
However, all this seems quite too familiar to the poet, an event which has
happened a number of times prior to this.

A deep critical analysis of the poem suggests that a surface reading

may be misleading a naïve reader to take it as a poem depicting a journey by
train. The poem is ambiguous as well as symbolic in its implementation. The
poem is ambiguous as well as symbolic in its implementation. The
ambiguity is created right at the start by the “title” of the poem: “Melodic
Trains”. Now this suggests a smooth sailing of events and rhythmical
journey. But the context of the poem suggests that the title is ironical, as the
journey is centered around chaos and frustration. In fact, the journey
conducted here may symbolize the journey of man in this world, a journey
conducted amid tension, anxiety weariness. The opening dialogues of the
poet with the little girl may seem an idle talk between an adult and an
adolescent but the underlying idea is the complicated idea: “Time” in this
world. Hence, Ashbery too like P.B shelly takes time as “Unfathomable
Sea” whose true nature and watches but we are not familiar with the broader
and historical vision “Time” but the poet in here, gives it a more complex
and mysterious air. However, this aspect gives the poem a greater depth and
touch of universality.
Another aspect of the poem in hand is the metaphor of “Journey”
which might have been used for our “says” in this world. As William
Shakespeare in his famous poem suggests the idea:
“All the world’s stage,
And all the men and
Women merely players.”
Similarly, John Ashbery projects the worlds in terms of a journey
which is conducted in nerve breaking circumstances. This journey of ours is
a mixture of paradoxes and contradictions and if at times the worlds seems.
“Clouds of anxiety, of sad, regretful impatience”….
If we feel hopeful of meeting our near and dear ones at the journey but this
also includes the lawlessness of the railways system:
One begins to suspect there’s no rule or that it’s applied haphazardly”.
In fact, metaphorically the above comment on running the train system Hard
Ryan conception of the universe. As he says;
“III judged execution of the well judged plans of nature.”
Moreover, while in this world man is in a constant state of turmoil and
thorough penetration of the worries around, haunts his mind. There may be
the moments of ‘Dales and gulches’ but perhaps the ultimate fate is
frustration:
The poet also gets a bit gloomy at the idea that these demands of the
tense journey have made us prisoners to our thoughts; we remain so much
pre occupied with our own selves that we hardly find time to look around
and share the joys and grief of other; “ we have no time to stand and stare”;
That is why the poet compares the motion of these exhausted passengers
with “Mechanical puppets”. To him they are ‘ Towers of pisa figures’ there
are hardly any emotions and feelings for others. This is in here that the poet
introduces, perhaps, the most significant question of the poem:

“Why couldn’t
 We have been more considerate?”
Thus, the above questions becomes a mild satire and strong protest by the
poet against the “modern- psyche” Which has become too much absorbed
and matter to fact. At a moments when trains stops and the platform is
crowded with people, there is a mood of hum- drum activities and the poet
though feels the people to be “my brother” Yet the bond superficial. In such
variously tense mood people come. Sit with each other but like huge glaciers
remain far a part of each other. They carry their dull mechanical moods in
the public places and then move to their houses with the same moods. If this
is the crux of man’s life in this world then it is really pathetic. Thus, man’s
life continues in this world in the presence of anxiety and hope for
betterment.
To conclude our discussion on the “Melodic Train” we may say that it
its typical of john Ashbery’s poetic style. The poem reveals his dramatic as
well as narrative talent as a poet. The philosophy of the given poem may not
be crystal clear but the message is very clear. The present man is shutting the
doors of happiness on himself by too much retrospection and concern with
his own self. This has given birth to ill-tempers, selfishness and profligacy in
the modern worlds, especially America. Thus, the philosophy conveyed is
neither innocent our tormented but “ironic” in its texture. However , the
present poem is rich not only for the impressive them and unique setting but
simple dialogues, abundance of images, changing moods of the poet,
allusions to concepts objects, and penetrating quality of some of the
questions asked all this combines to create an enchanting piece of
poetry by the magic pen of john Ashbery. One may conclude with the words
of john Bayley:
Ashbery is a poet who stylized into apparent existence the non- events
of consciousness, sometimes contrasting them in a rather witty way with the
perpetual work of art.”