Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape

Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape

Vs.

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man, 


I'm Popeye the Sailor Man. 


I'm strong to the finich 


Cause I eats me spinach.

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

The title of the poem is very descriptive, “Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape.” Ashbery’s use of the title depicts images of equipment farmers’ use and the plants they raise on a farm. At first, you might think that this is a sestina poem about farm life. When you read the title, however, you have no idea that the subject of the poem is the cartoon- character, Popeye, and his friends. Instead, the title might have been “Popeye and His Friends Go to the Country for a Visit.” This would have been a more literal title for the poem, and just one area where Ashbery uses descriptive language in the poem.

The poem, written as a sestina, seems to be about a visit to the country for Popeye and his character friends. Ashbery uses the pattern of the sestina to present the occurrences of that day. Following the sestina form, the poet must have six words repeated at the ends of each line. The first stanza determines the words and how to order the words in the remaining five stanzas. In this poem, the order for the words in the first stanza is: A. thunder, B. apartment, C. country, D. pleasant, E. scratched, and F. spinach. Each of these words hold meaning in the poem.

Thunder is meant to represent the power that spinach gives Popeye. Spinach is what gives Popeye his power, power to fight for his woman and family. Although Popeye is made out to be a big strong man, the idea of the apartment puts him in a role of more of a family made, who might be a little softer. Country is a place where Popeye grew up, farmed spinach and is raising his family. (Popeye is also enlisted in the navy in all of his cartoons, which represents him fighting for his country). The word Scratched quite possibly refers to how Popeye’s life isn’t perfect and that there have been a few bumps and bruises (or scratches) along the way.

One of the big themes in this poem is jealousy. Popeye’s father, Poopdeck Pappy, is jealous of the life his son is living, which is a strange concept all in itself because parents are supposed to be proud of their children and their accomplishments. Pappy is jealous that Popeye has a loving family because Popeye’s mother has been out of the picture for quite some time it appears and he is just tired of being lonely. Another instance of jealousy is the Sea Hags jealousy of Popeye’s strength.

Ashbery uses the very difficult poetic form of the sestina to bring comic relief to the cartoon-character Popeye and his friends. The use of image and language enhance the poem. The subject of the poem is from popular culture. By being a cartoon character, the reader has the capability of imagining the poem as if it happened in a cartoon. His use of the six end-words makes for a good laugh when reading. You even find unexpected uses for certain words. All-in-all, this is a very, puzzling, yet well written poem.