Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape

"I'm Popeye the sailor man, 
 I'm Popeye the sailor man. 
 I'm strong to the finach
 Cause I eats me spinach. 
 I'm Popeye the sailor man" 


In John Ashbery's Poem, "Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape" the theme of jealousy continuously represented. In fact the story of Popeye itself has a wide range of jealousy through out it.
Popeye is very strong, but what makes him that way? Spinach, so of course everyone against him is going to want spinach in order to beat him. The poem begins with the first comparison of Popeye and Zeus.

"The first of the undecoded messages read: "Popeye sits in
      thunder,
Unthought of."

Like Zeus, Popeye gains his strength with his own type of "medicine". Zeus gains his power from the mortals, he feeds off of them (not literally), there prayers and sacrifices are what make him so strong so he can protect them. Popeye, gets his strength from spinach, therefor her shall protect it. There are those of course who are extremely jealous of the strength that Popeye or Zeus, get from these resources so they try to jeopardize it. For example in lines 8 and 9 the Sea Hag asks Wimpy if he had gotten any spinach, Wimpy replied by saying "M'love... the plains are decked out into thunder", the plains are obviously where the spinach grows, and Popeye is protecting the plains from other people by throwing thunder bolts. The same tools that Zeus use. The sea hag, is clearly a jealous villain, who craves the power that Popeye has. Another example of the Theme Jealousy is Popeye's father.

"Olive came hurtling through the window; its geraniums
      scratched
Her long thigh. "I have news!" she gasped "Popeye,
      forced as you know to flee the country
One musty gusty evening by the schemes of his wizened,
      duplicate father, jealous of the apartment
and all that it contains..."

Popeye's father, although very much alike Popeye, is said to be upset about the apartment. But why would he be? It is small, and is compared to a shoebox. It most likely isn't that he is jealous of the apartment, but rather he jealous of Popeye himself. Popeye is extremely strong, without a doubt, and he seems to have everything figured out, all he has to do is protect the root of his strength which is the spinach.

Popeye does not actually appear in the poem until the end, and when he does thunder fills the room, green thunder possibly referring back to the spinach. The sea hag, and his father are truly no match for him so long as he has his inner strength. They can try to jeopardize it any way they want, but Popeye seems to have no fear, or else he would have run away like he was advised to do.

The form is a sestina, and the important words that form the poem are; Thunder, apartment, country, pleasant, scratched, and spinach. All of which hold singular meaning. Thunder represents the power that the spinach gives Popeye, he has the ability to protect his strength, and the source of his strength with his thunderous personality. Apartment, is the wholeness of Popeye he is not only a big tough guy, but also a family man, and his apartment is what brings that family together, and causes jealousy to the others. Country, is where the crop that makes him so tough grows, where he grew. He loves his country but it is not a place that he goes to out of fear. Although he will not run away to there he will protect it. Although Popeye's life is flawed, there is a pleasant feeling about it, a feeling of protection and security so long as he has his strength. There are a few "scratches" in the road that do cause mayhem, and are minor setback, but Popeye prevails. And finally the root of all the strength, the beginning of it all, the spinach. Spinach is what keeps Popeye going, without it he would not be big and strong, and all of the words seen above would be unimportant.

Popeye, himself, represents a true man. Everyone must find the root of their strength somewhere, whether it is through mortals, or even spinach. Whatever makes you strong, is what will in time ward off the weak. Jealousy is inevitable, those who have not yet found the root of their strength will do everything in their power to steal yours.