The Tennis Court Oath

...by John Ashbery arrived. I read the title poem and was surprised by what I found. It's nothing like the poem I was sent earlier this month. Mind you, The Tennis Court Oath was first published in 1962, so any difference should come as no surprise.

In her essay "Normalizing John Ashbery", Marjorie Perloff says "Ashbery attained almost no recognition prior to the publication of Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, published in 1976 when the poet was fifty." Almost no recognition? Really? I'd like to see that more fully explained. Perloff refers to "the Establishment" in the same paragraph. I think the problem is this: I still don't have a good sense of the Establishment.

Here's The Tennis Court Oath, the famous sketch by Jacques–Louis David.