Frank O’Hara as Modernist for the People Essay -- Frank

The verse line of free-spoken OHara is intimately connected to virgin York City. He explores the role of the individual subject in the urban center and the mechanics of the city itself yet because he engages the urban landscape in an cultured carriage many readers of rude OHara view him as the prankish sponsor of the unfermented York art scene who occasionally took pen to paper. Take this check over by Herbert Leibowitz as an example A fascinating amalgam of fan, connoisseur, and propagandist, he was considered by his friends, in an excess of enthusiasm, as the Apollinaire of his generation, an aesthetic courtier who had taste and glow and transcendent energy . . . From the start OHara exhibits a precocious air of affirmation and a throwaway charm, as if to the verbal manner born . . . and thence his innovation is full of events - parties, thoughtful acts, homosexual encounters, a painting or cinema to be commented on - that he supports with a sophisticated nave approve and generous emotion. 1 Leibowitzs remarks occasion the publication of The Collected Poems of Frank OHara and curry the backrest cover of the paperback version. I find it a inadequate irrelevant that a publisher reprinted a portion of this particular look backward of OHaras poetry. Leibowitz basically pans the book and dismisses OHara as a poet of minor importance. He views Frank OHara as a Pan piping on city streets. This is a backhanded compliment at best but it does solder a connecter between lyric poetry and the cityscape. Consider that OHara is following in the footsteps of some other lyric poet of the urban landscape, Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire attempts to embrace modernity, as he sees it, and to bring through the poetry of the city and the crowd. Although his intentions... ...r. 7 Neal Bowers. The City Limits Frank OHaras Poetry. Frank OHara To Be honest to a City, ed. Jim Elledge, University of Michigan Press, 1990 (321). 8 This section is very pro blematic. I dont necessity to furbish up reductive generalizations and assertions about Modernism. At the same time, I do non want to explore the work of any one author in too much detail. Im going to allude mainly to Eliot and Pound, for simplicitys sake. 9 Frank OHara. The twenty-four hour period Lady Died. The Collected Poems of Frank OHara, ed. Donald Allen. University of California Press, 1995 (325). Hereafter cited parenthetically by title of poem and line number. 10 Kevin Stein. Everything the Opposite A literary ass for the Anti-Literary in Frank OHaras Lunch Poems Frank OHara To Be authorized to a City, ed. Jim Elledge. University of Michigan Press, 1990 (358). Frank OHara as Modernist for the People audition -- Frank The poetry of Frank OHara is intimately connected to New York City. He explores the role of the individual subject in the city and the mechanics of the city itself yet because he engages the urban landscape in an urbane manner many re aders of Frank OHara view him as the prankish patron of the New York art scene who occasionally took pen to paper. Take this review by Herbert Leibowitz as an example A fascinating amalgam of fan, connoisseur, and propagandist, he was considered by his friends, in an excess of enthusiasm, as the Apollinaire of his generation, an aesthetic courtier who had taste and impudence and prodigious energy . . . From the start OHara exhibits a precocious air of command and a throwaway charm, as if to the verbal manner born . . . and indeed his world is full of events - parties, thoughtful acts, homosexual encounters, a painting or film to be commented on - that he supports with a sophisticated nave wonder and generous emotion. 1 Leibowitzs remarks occasion the publication of The Collected Poems of Frank OHara and decorate the back cover of the paperback version. I find it a little strange that a publisher reprinted a portion of this particular review of OHaras poetry. Leibowitz basically pans the book and dismisses OHara as a poet of minor importance. He views Frank OHara as a Pan piping on city streets. This is a backhanded compliment at best but it does solder a connection between lyric poetry and the cityscape. Consider that OHara is following in the footsteps of another lyric poet of the urban landscape, Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire attempts to embrace modernity, as he sees it, and to write the poetry of the city and the crowd. Although his intentions... ...r. 7 Neal Bowers. The City Limits Frank OHaras Poetry. Frank OHara To Be True to a City, ed. Jim Elledge, University of Michigan Press, 1990 (321). 8 This section is very problematic. I dont want to make reductive generalizations and assertions about Modernism. At the same time, I do not want to explore the work of any one writer in too much detail. Im going to allude mainly to Eliot and Pound, for simplicitys sake. 9 Frank OHara. The Day Lady Died. The Collected Poems of Frank OHara, ed. Donald Allen. Uni versity of California Press, 1995 (325). Hereafter cited parenthetically by title of poem and line number. 10 Kevin Stein. Everything the Opposite A Literary Basis for the Anti-Literary in Frank OHaras Lunch Poems Frank OHara To Be True to a City, ed. Jim Elledge. University of Michigan Press, 1990 (358).