I think Ashbery mixes a technical form with cartoon characters because sestinas are the types of poems that are often found to be complex and usually about serious topics. Since he used a familiar cartoon character that many Americans see as a strong person, he can show the seriousness of the poem while using some humor. The cartoon characters lighten the situation at hand and ease the tension. Ashbery wants to show the seriousness of Popeye having to leave his apartment and how it is going to affect people around him. Popeye and his friends, as cartoon characters, are known to be humorous and in that case Ashbery wanted to use them to balance everything.
My favorite line in the poem is, "No more shall pleasant rays of sun refresh your sense of growing old." This line stuck out to me the most and seemed to have a greater meaning in my opinion. I took that line as saying that day in and day out, we look to the sun as a sign of bringing in a new day. With each new day we are getting older and older with the rising and setting of the sun. We are reminded of our age with the new days but we shouldn't be focused on that. I understood it to mean that we should focus on the moment in time because we have no idea what could happen within the next minute, hour, day, months, or even years. Each day, or "pleasant rays of sun" that we encounter mean a new beginning and we should always keep that in mind and appreciate the time we have on Earth.
-Desiree'
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