Frank O'Hara Criticism
Frank O'Hara, an influential voice of the New York School, left an indelible mark on American poetry with his distinctive approach that seamlessly blended art and literature. Known for his multifaceted roles as both a poet and curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara's life intersected with the vibrant artistic circles of his time, including figures like John Ashbery and Jackson Pollock. His poetry, marked by exuberance and spontaneity, reflects a keen awareness of the present, utilizing a conversational style and everyday language that capture the fleeting nature of experience. This is evident in the analyses by critics such as Helen Vendler and Marjorie Perloff, who highlight his innovative approach to language and form.
O'Hara's poetry often mirrors the energy of Abstract Expressionist art, capturing ephemeral moments with playful and "casual insight," as Fred Moramarco suggests. His work is a testament to his poetic philosophy, favoring immediacy and cultural inclusivity, as articulated in his "Personism: A Manifesto" and discussed by Aram Saroyan. By deliberately breaking from New Criticism, O'Hara embraced the spontaneity that defined the New York School, offering a distinct voice that continues to inspire.
O'Hara's poetic style, often void of punctuation and rich in personal references, invites readers into a dynamic and contradictory world, bridging personal intimacy with public observation. This characteristic style resonates through his exploration of personal and cultural identity, including his openness about his sexuality, as highlighted by Rudy Kikel. Moreover, John Lowney analyzes his emphasis on the present and the seemingly trivial as a reflection of cultural memory in postwar America, further underscoring his impact on modern poetry.
Despite his untimely death, O'Hara's legacy persists, capturing the immediacy and sensory overload of urban life in a manner that contrasts the poetic with the mundane. This duality is explored by Paul Zweig, who delves into O'Hara's paradoxical approach to meaning. As The Poet of the Painters suggests, O'Hara's alignment with avant-garde artists of his time underscores his significance in the realm of art and literature, a legacy that remains pivotal in understanding mid-20th-century American poetry.
Contents
- Principal Works
-
O'Hara, Frank (Vol. 13)
-
The Poet of the Painters
(summary)
In the following essay, Thomas Byrom argues that Frank O'Hara's poetry, characterized by its buoyancy, spontaneity, and playful wit, reflects his role as a social poet of the avant-garde, particularly among painters, while critiquing the tendency of his admirers to overly elevate his work beyond its intended lightheartedness.
-
Paul Zweig
(summary)
In the following essay, Paul Zweig explores how Frank O'Hara's Meditations in an Emergency represents a literary revolution through its surreal style and paradoxical approach to meaning, contrasting O'Hara's poetic will against the mundane "logical" world and celebrating the transformative power of poetic incoherence.
-
Prose of a New York Poet
(summary)
In the following essay, Aram Saroyan contends that Frank O'Hara's work, especially his "Personism: A Manifesto," epitomizes the New York School's departure from New Criticism, showcasing O'Hara's ability to blend casualness with penetrating insight while discussing a diverse range of cultural figures.
-
Fred Moramarco
(summary)
In the following essay, Fred Moramarco examines Frank O'Hara's poetry in relation to Abstract Expressionism, arguing that O'Hara's work mirrors the painterly approach by capturing transient moments and everyday details with playfulness and "casual insight," emphasizing the transformative power of art to engage with the immediate sensibility of the artist.
-
Marjorie Perloff
(summary)
In the following essay, Marjorie Perloff argues that Frank O'Hara is a pivotal poet of the postwar era, emphasizing his influence on future generations and his distinctive poetic style that values immediacy, openness, and the rejection of symbolism, while highlighting his associations with visual arts and his innovative use of language and form.
-
The Poet of the Painters
(summary)
- O'Hara, Frank (Vol. 5)
- O'Hara, Frank (Vol. 2)
-
O'Hara, Frank
-
The Virtues of the Alterable
(summary)
In the following essay, Vendler provides a thematic and stylistic analysis of O'Hara's poetry.
-
‘The Clear Architecture of the Nerves’: The Poetry of Frank O'Hara
(summary)
In the following essay, Molesworth considers O'Hara's place within the context of modern poetry.
-
Glistening Torsos, Sandwiches, and Coca-Cola
(summary)
In the following review, Meyer surveys the strengths and weakness of O'Hara's verse and links his work with the poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire.
-
In Favor of One's Time (1954-61)
(summary)
In the following essay, Perloff delineates the defining stylistic features of O'Hara's verse.
-
The Gay Frank O'Hara
(summary)
In the following essay, originally published in 1978, Kikel discusses O'Hara as a gay poet.
-
Language and Style
(summary)
In the following essay, Feldman examines stylistic aspects of O'Hara's poetry.
-
Frank O'Hara's Poetics of Speech: The Example of ‘Biotherm’
(summary)
In the following essay, Blasing considers O'Hara's use of language in “Biotherm.”
-
‘Never Argue with the Movies’: Love and the Cinema in the Poetry of Frank O'Hara
(summary)
In the following essay, originally published in 1988, Elledge investigates the influence of the cinema on O'Hara's poetry.
-
The City Limits: Frank O'Hara's Poetry
(summary)
In the following essay, Bowers emphasizes the importance of New York City in O'Hara's poetry, yet contends that his association with the city has ultimately devalued his work.
-
The ‘Post-Anti-Esthetic’ Poetics of Frank O'Hara
(summary)
In the following essay, Lowney explores O'Hara's utilization of parody, appropriation, and allusion in his poetry and addresses his treatment of the “issue of cultural memory in postwar America.”
-
A Serpent in the Grass: Reading Walt Whitman and Frank O'Hara
(summary)
In the following essay, Eberly finds parallels between the poetry of Walt Whitman and Frank O'Hara. Born almost one hundred years apart, Walt Whitman and Frank O'Hara lived to chronicle their eras while exposing their most intimate selves. Both gay, they explored their sexuality and the 'city of orgies, walks and joys'—Manhattan—which protected and nourished it, providing 'lovers, continual lovers.' While Whitman anxiously sought a public exposure and approval which O'Hara shirked, both faced incomprehension and denigration of their work by many of their early readers. Both, too, produced a prodigious amount.
-
B/O—Barthes's Text/O'Hara's Trick
(summary)
In the following essay, Bredbeck considers the role of homosexual semiotics in O'Hara's poetry, utilizing Roland Barthes's theoretical writings.
-
‘The Audience Vanishes’: Frank O'Hara and the Mythos of Decline
(summary)
In the following essay, Goldstein contends that O'Hara effectively addresses the crisis in the movie picture industry in the late 1950s in his poetry.
-
‘Everything the Opposite’ of History
(summary)
In the following essay, Stein explores O’Hara’s break from literary tradition and places him in the context of the 1950s.
-
Frank O'Hara's ‘Fired’ Self
(summary)
In the following essay, Crain utilizes the work of child psychiatrist D. W. Winnicott in order to explicate stylistic aspects of O'Hara's poetry as well as his poetic theory of Personism.
-
Frank O'Hara's Translation Game
(summary)
In the following essay, Epstein asserts that “Choses Passagès” is a compelling poem that encourages further study of O’Hara’s friendship with poet John Ashbery.
-
Parodic Nostalgia for Aesthetic Machismo: Frank O'Hara and Jackson Pollock
(summary)
In the following essay, Sweet investigates the influence of French avant-garde art and the painting of Jackson Pollock on O'Hara's verse and poetic theory.
-
The Virtues of the Alterable
(summary)
- Further Reading