The poem also shows some meta-fictional features, aware of its own identity as a work of literature. Expressions such as “And yet, it is not as simple as that” point out the composition of the poem and force readers to be critical of reading. This self-awareness, in turn, determines the postmodern inclination to deconstruct traditional narrative frameworks and author, text, and reader. The type of storytelling used by Ashbery echoes Derrida's criticism of continuous stories. Rather than having some kind of coherent story framework, “Paradoxes and Oxymoron” presents its ideas in a disjoined, non-linear manner. In a traditional narrative, the poem violates the order of events but unfolds as a chain of unconnected pictures and thoughts. This disruption of narrative conventions is in keeping with the postmodern refusal of linear development and rigid supports. The poem Ashbery is a poster boy for the concept of the fluidity of meaning, which is central in Derrida’s deconstruction. Even when they are difficult to exposit, verses such as “My eyes / Are the color of a continent at sunset” generate powerful emotions. The metaphorical complication of the comparison of eyes to a continent at dusk as a whole meets a single valid interpretation. This multiplicity of interpretations makes postmodern works fluid and transparent in meaning. Eventually, “Paradoxes and Oxymoron,” in its ability to carefully take apart the usual structures, being aware of itself as a text, and in the deconstructing of language, accept the postmodern ideas. Ashbery promotes the active participation of the reader in meaning-creation by presenting a poem that accepts unpredictability. A monument to the continuing relevance of postmodern ideals in contemporary writing is the poem due to its intricate language and Meta reflexivity.

"Soonest Mended" by John Ashbery

This poem is a postmodern masterpiece that should be examined as deconstructive, following the teachings of Jacques Derrida. Therefore, Derrida’s unraveling of the faculty of language, meaning, and identity contradicts traditional wisdom, and Ashbery’s poem skillfully and carefully investigates these concepts. Derrida concentrates on the instability of language, and Ashbery’s use of language in “Soonest Mended” goes together. The poem is characterized by a disorganized syntax and a weird combination of ideas and images. This fragmentation questions the traditional assumptions of coherence and wholeness in language. The purposeful distortion of language in lines like "Came to the breathtaking knowledge: The use of "spoken, history is a hoax, the invented past" draws attention to the work of Ashbery and invites readers to examine the slippery nature of meaning. The blurred borders in Ashbery’s poem correspond to Derrida’s attack on binary oppositions. The unfeeling weatherman in the sentence “But the one unfeeling weatherman began to speak of a high-pressure system of Danish extraction” changes the weatherman who is often associated with regularity and order to the one of uncertainty and unfeeling. It makes rigid categories and the classical idea of opposites disorder. The principle of ‘difference’ in Derrida's philosophy claims that meaning is always deferred.

This theme is highly captured by the poem “Soonest Mended” as it does not lend itself to easy interpretation. For instance, “How should we regard it? Should we exult over the battlefields of never?” manifests in the incessant deferment of a conclusive interpretation, urging the readers to engage the text on a level more than the superficial. The poetic style of Ashbery mirrors Derrida's commitment to the play of the signifiers without a fixed signifier. The poem is a labyrinth of inconsistent interpretations and also implications. Since meaning is an effect of the reader’s interaction with the text, the phrase “If time is forgotten, the story of time is very pretty but somewhat affectless” brings to mind the playfulness of the signifiers and the unforeseeable nature of the language itself. Soonest Mended includes features of meta-fiction, a characteristic of postmodern writing that is in tune with Derrida’s theories about language as self-reflection. The poem invites the reader to reflect on the act of storytelling and even refers to the poem itself as a fabrication. Thus, questions like “ But who, looking at the pictures, will guess that this sort of thing excites you?” point out the constructive nature of the narrative and the active role of the reader in understanding the text. The poem of Ashbery shows intertextuality, which is another very important part of postmodernism. The work’s patchwork of allusions and links creates a web of interconnections. The line “Nothing we do can stop the singing/nor the arrival of a season” subverts the concept of a single, definitive meaning by integrating several literary, cultural, and also historical allusions.

An enduring issue in the poetry of Ashbery and the philosophy of Derrida is the dislocation of identity. Derrida questions fixed identities, and the speaker of Ashbery’s “Soonest Mended” imitates the deconstructive attitude of this philosopher by stating, “I do not know who I am, and furthermore, I am very proud of that fact.” Thus, the poem also represents a flexible and detached portrayal of the self, which goes along with Derrida’s critique of fundamentalist notions.

In sum, “Soonest Mended” gives various chances for deconstructive reading under the framework of Jacques Derrida’s thoughts. Derrida’s theory of deconstruction is aligned with the manipulation of language by Ashbery, as well as the disruption of binary oppositions, the postponement of meaning, and play with signifiers. The poem forces readers to navigate the complex relationship of language and meaning in a world where certainty and stable identities are hard to find. It epitomizes postmodern ambiguities.

"The One Thing That Can Save America" by John Ashbery

Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction theory is an essential element of postmodern literary criticism, and it provides a perspective through which we can explore the complexities of John Ashbery’s poem “The One Thing that Can Save America.” Numerous postmodern elements are uncovered through deconstructive exploration ingrained in the poem’s language, structure, and meaning. Deconstructing binary oppositions and pulling down the façade of the absolute division to reveal the underlying conflict are the main tendencies of Derrida’s deconstruction. The name of Ashbery’s poem “The One Thing That Can Save America” gives hints of the binary system. Through a number of oppositions that include “or just staying home / reading the papers,” this binary is undone as the poem unfolds. The borders between inaction and action dissolve, and the reader is made to doubt the usual assumptions and interpretations. The language that Ashbery uses is an adroit reflection of Derrida’s stress on the game of language and the inherent ambiguity of meaning. 

The poem is a lexical mess in which meaning is constantly escaping the grasp. The lines “The shadow of the zero / on the field of consciousness” are typical examples of signifier play that creates the feeling of difference through the deferral of meaning and variation. But zero, often associated with nothing, void, or lack, has a shadow, which makes it more difficult to understand in an ordinary way and adds to the general ambiguity of the poem.

The poem also shows the diversity in viewpoints, which is central to postmodern philosophy. The poems are hard to understand since they shift voices and, therefore, points of view. An interactive dimension is present in phrases like “Would you like to come, too?” and “I will go with you,” which work against any clear understanding. The poem turns into a subject that is multifunctional, where many looks come to the literary text, asking the reader to deal with this information in the aspect of its nuances. Ashbery’s writing is meta-fictional in nature, which is an identified characteristic of postmodern literature. Sentences such as, “It is what I thought,” give that sort of self-consciousness since it is hard to draw the line between reading the poetry and just repeating. Such meta-commentary emphasizes the restricted meaning and the interactivity of the reader and, thus, stimulates him to think about the text as such. Skepticism towards absolute truth, one of the main postmodern characteristics, is reflected in Ashbery's poetry. Expressions like when you thought/that you had seen almost all suggest doubt and sarcasm. The poem resonates with postmodern thought that all truths are intricate and contextually determined by suggesting that any truth can be malleable and subject to change.

Conclusion

Deconstruction by Derrida enables us to understand Ashbery’s deliberate instability of language as we navigate through the maze-like landscapes of poetry. Under this theoretical framework, the poems cease to be static objects with one meaning but become an active phenomenon where the reader is led through an ongoing process of analysis and reconsideration. The deconstruction method elaborated by Jacques Derrida is one of the lenses through which to analyze the myriad layers of postmodern themes that are characteristic of the complex subject matter found in John Ashbery’s poetry, and particularly in “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,” “Paradoxes and Oxymoron,” “Soonest Mended,” and “The One Thing That Can Save America The book “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” by Ashbery is a groundbreaking exploration of identity, personhood and vague aspects of perception. Derrida's deconstructive method, which calls into question the stability of language and meaning, is vital in dismantling complexities that are present in Ashbery’s musings. By alluding to a convex mirror, the poem’s title distorts reality and reflects Derrida’s theory of the unbalanced signifiers' nature. Derrida argues that meaning is a product of an endlessly repeating deferral and difference rather than something fixed. This finds a strong resonance with Ashbery’s “Paradoxes and Oxymoron,” where the significance of wordplay and linguistic inconsistencies is emphasized. Employing Derridean deconstruction, we dissect the layers of paradox in Ashbery’s lines, knowing how language both generates and destroys itself so that the readers can manage the perpetual state of meaning. “Soonest Mended” is a further instance of how deconstruction interfaces with Ashbery’s poetic environment. The title implies an urgent kind of repair which is paradoxical in nature, bringing in a time paradox. The deconstruction of Derrida makes the reader take on the inherent ambiguity of meaning and the instability of language, which should be analyzed by such a deconstruction. The poem becomes a language puzzle, particularly the postmodern predilection to tolerate ambiguity and re-examine traditional concepts. Derrida’s deconstructive viewpoint, along with the socio-political critique that Ashbery gives in “The One Thing That Can Save America,” is a fusion that forms a perplexing web of illogical observations concerning the country. Derrida's assertion that deconstruction is an approach to the unpredictable rather than a technique is in line with Ashbury's analysis of confusion and fluidity concerning societal problems. The poem becomes a space of doubt where conventional understanding has to be questioned, and various readings possibly represent unforeseen readings.

Finally, the dismantling of Derrida illuminates Ashbery’s poetic vision for us by sharpening the elusiveness of language and the ongoing flicker of difference. The poems in question are intricate traps of language games, suggesting that ambiguity is acceptable and beauty is found in the unanswered. Looking at Ashbery through the Derridean deconstruction lens, the reader is invited to confront the boundaries of meaning and interpretation. As a poet, Ashbery represents but one of the postmodern philosophers. He is also constantly a part of its discussion and evolution.