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Frank Ohara Life and Works
Introduction
Poetry has, since time immemorial, been one of the most fundamental aspects of literature. It goes without saying that it encompasses an extremely creative form of literature. This explains why quite a number of poets and poetesses have been immortalized by their works despite having composed those decades or even centuries ago. One of the poets who left a mark in the world of poetry is Frank O’Hara.
Frank O’Hara gained nationwide and possibly worldwide acclaim for his works that spanned two decades between 1946 and 1966 when he died. O’Hara was born 1926 as Francis Russell O’Hara in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son of Katherine Broderick and Joseph O’Hara both of who were strict Irish Catholics (Lehman, 3). Frank believed that he was born on June 27th 1926 only that his parents lied pertaining to his date of birth so as to hide the fact that his conception took place before they got married. The couple had been married on September 1925 in Grafton Massachusetts, after which they moved to Baltimore. Eighteen months later, the family went back to Grafton as Russell O’Hara was required to safeguard or ensure the smooth running or functioning of the family farm.
Frank O’Hara was enlisted into the United States’ Navy in June 1944, where he served as on destroyer USS Nicholas as sonarman 3rd class. He was discharged honorably in 1946, after which he went on GI Bill to Harvard. Frank O’Hara signed up for classes on creative writing from John Ciardi, after which he earned his Bachelors of Arts degree in 1950. Frank O’Hara also received a graduate fellowship in the University of Michigan after he was recommended by Ciardi. He earned his Master’s degree in 1951 from the same institution (Lehman, 7). He won the Avery Hopwood Major Award for his collection of poems named “A Byzantine Place”, as well as a verse play named “Try! Try!” (Smith, 54).
Upon graduating from the University of Michigan, O’Hara joined his fellow poet named John Ashbery in New York. Initially, O’Hara lived on the money that he had won from Hopwood. He explored New York City and wrote poetry. He had a brief stint assisting photographer named Cecil Beaton before he decided to get a more permanent job that would still give him time to continue writing. Frank was hired, in December 1951, to work at the Museum of Modern Art at the front desk where he sold tickets, postcards and publications. More often than not, Frank O’Hara wrote poems while still working at the front desk. In 1953, O’Hara started writing articles for a magazine known as “Art News”, where he was an editorial associate. It is worth noting that O’Hara still wrote for the magazine even after his return in 1955 to Museum of Modern Art (Smith, 65).
At around the 1952, New York City saw the flourishing of the abstract expressionism movement, which was mainly propagated by key artists such as Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning and Franz Kline among others. O’Hara became part of this movement alongside Kenneth Koch and John Ashbery (Smith, 67). In this year, published a collection of 13 poems named “A City Winter and Other Poems”, which also encompassed two drawings made by Larry Rivers. This collection marked its place as the pioneer series of books made by poets and incorporating drawings of an artist with Tibor de Nagy gallery as the publishers (Perloff, 56). At around the same time, O’Hara became part of the “Club”, which was essentially a forum of artists started in 1940s. O’Hara also started appearing in varied series that discussed poetry and art on March 1952.
The first collection of poetry by O’Hara that received wide recognition and acknowledgement was titled “Mediations in an Emergency”, which was published in 1957 (Ward, 87). As much as the collection did not initially receive enthusiastic reviews, it was the collection that brought him most recognition in his entire lifetime. Testament to the incredible nature of this collection was the fact that O’Hara had been approached with an offer for collaborating with Larry Rivers (an artist) while the collection was under preparation for publication (Perloff, 78).
Another collection of poems titled “Odes” and “Second Avenue” was published in 1960. However, that same year may have been marked by one of the most fundamental or significant events in his entire writing career (Ward, 89). In this year, “The New American Poetry: 1945-1965” was published by Donald Allen, who categorized a total of 44 poets into four groups namely “Black Mountain”, “New York School”, “San Francisco Renaissance” and “Beat Generation”. Allen categorized O’Hara under the “New York School”, where a total of 15of his poems were incorporated, making him the most dominant poet in this collection. During O’Hara’s lifetime, he published two more collections namely “Lunch Poems” (which was published in 1964), and another collection that had a tentative title of “Love Poems” published the following year (Ward, 92). However, more volumes of his poems were released after his death, most notable of which were “The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara” (released in 1971), followed by “The Selected Poems of Frank O’Hara” (produced in 1974), and lastly, “Poems Retrieved: 1950-1966” (published in 1977). O’Hara died of injuries that he had sustained after he was hit by a car in Long Island, New York at the Fire Island.
One of the most dominant features of O’Hara’s poetry is that it aimed at capturing life’s immediacy, the notion that poetry should not be between two pages rather it should revolve around two individuals. Needless to say, his works were inspired by the things that he encountered in his personal life, not to mention the cultural and political bearings of the time he lived. In a statement incorporated in “New American Poetry” Frank O’Hara stated that the things that happen to him, subject to exaggerations and lies that he tries to avoid, are incorporated in his poems. He stated that it may be the case that poetry makes the nebulous events of life to be more concrete to him and helps in regaining their details. Alternatively, it may be the case that poetry exemplifies the incidents’ immaterial quality, which may be too circumstantial and concrete. Either way, his works did not merely relegate him to the position of a representative of the Cold War politics that dogged the 50s.
His prowess was evident at a conference held in June 1996 at the University of Maine, dubbed the “Poetry of the 1950s”. O’Hara’s works surpassed those of any other poet, with his name coming up every now and then during the numerous keynote addresses pertaining to larger topics. It is notable, however, that the conference seemed to have undergone a shift in the sensibility. As much as the conference addressed a wide range of topics, gay sensibility came out as one of the most dominant ones (Perloff, 54). In an essay incorporated in the “America Literary History” scholars explored what they thought of as the deep-seated aggression of O’Hara. They noted that the aggression doubled back on itself because the “homophobia regime” that characterized the 1950s “pre-gay liberation” could never be examined via psychology. Instead, poems filled the void since their constituent elements though trivial bring out the tangible features of an occurrence (Perloff, 54). O’Hara’s imaginary culture of surface underlined in “The Day Lady Died” incorporates political resonances and critique’s consumerism. In addition, the poem was highly dependent on gender roles that were sharply defined in the 50s, as well as the dilemma that the roles posed to the homosexuals and especially gay men.
In fact, a close examination of O’Hara’s poems such as “The Day Lady Died” clearly shows that it accepts the things that may have been regarded stereotypically as “gay masculinity’s social contours”. These poems exemplified an obsession with, for instance, trivia, feelings, tastes discrimination, as well as fine arts. There is an obvious distance marked by these poems’ tone from what may be considered legitimate masculinity. As scholars note, these poems do not create O’Hara as a voice to reckon with in the public sphere, a place where real men make real decisions, a place where real politics take place. Referring to the poem “The Day Lady Died”, scholars have underlined that it is more of a lady day’s account that is being acted out by a man.
Major works and their themes
Frank O’Hara, like the reputable poet that he had become, explored varied works in his numerous poems. Needless to say, his poems mainly explored things that tagged at his heartstrings or things that were happening at the time of composing the poems. Of course, there were variations as to the amount of publicity that the different works received from his audience, depending on the theme that they explored.
Having a coke with you
The key theme in this poem is true love, which is explored via references to foreign lands, art, and descriptive diction and dragged out sentences and tone. He uses these techniques to underline the fact that he desires to have true love rather than letting it slip away or escape. The speaker in the poem states the reasons why he would prefer to share a coke with the individual that he loves. In addition, he underscores the belief that spending time with a lover is more preferable than observing art (O’Hara, 212). While he appreciates the beauty of art as he observed in a museum, he underlines the obsession that he has for Warren (his lover) when he states that the dancer has his entire attention, to the point that even the art that amazed him in the past does not occupy his mind when in the presence of the dancer. On the overall, the message that the poem wishes to pass is that love incorporates the power to survive temptations that are seemingly insurmountable, including the most brilliant and enhanced art in the entire globe.
Frank O’Hara “Nocturne”, 224-5
This poem also explores the theme of love. However, it differs from “Having a coke with “ you, in that it does not explore the depth of love that the speaker has for the lover, rather he is bemoaning the effects of space and distance on the love that they have for each other. He underlines the fact that as much as they have a deep love for each other, the space is creating an aura or uncertainty in their relationship as encompassed in the stanza, “The sky is grey and clear, with pink and blue shadows under each cloud” (O’Hara, 225). This distance is causing stagnation in the life of the speaker as he does not know the way forward. Underlining the effects of this distance is the stanza where the speaker outlines the fact that he will be useless within a few years.
Frank O’Hara “A Step Away From Them”, 257-8
In this poem, the poet explores the theme of mortality especially as pertaining to the space between life and death (O’Hara, 257). At first glance, the poem would seem to be a documentary outlining life in New York and concentrating on the mundane details, as well as common lunch hour activities. However, this changes once the poet starts recollecting about his departed friends including Bunny, Latouche and Pollock. It is surprising that Frank O’Hara does not follow the traditional patterns pertaining to elegiac poetry as he does not immediately indulge in the subject, rather he engages in common reflections pertaining to grief, as well as the tragic lamentations so as to underline a sense of mortality. Time comes as the most fundamental clue of elegiac content, especially with the persistently passing quality, which underlines the fact that everyone is stepping closer to mortality every second (O’Hara, 258).
Frank O’Hara, In Favor of One’s Time
O’Hara, once again, explores the theme of mortality of human beings in this poem. He underlines the glimmer that dwells beyond death after a perfectly marvelous life. He equates the afterlife with the soaring into consciousness, as well as a blaze of sensibility. However, he ties the theme of immortality with love and states that everyone is in an immortal contest that pertaining to pride and actuality (O’Hara, 45). The contest, in this case, is underlined as the love that is conscious of itself and encompasses all. Love is also said to be the medium for founding, as well as finding resemblance and the magnetic otherness that withstands the glare of the spirit and looks forward to joining the breath of an opposite force.
Frank O’Hara’s “Why I Am Not A Painter”
Of all the poems that Frank O’Hara composed, “Why I am not a Painter” is arguably the one that encompasses his idea, as well as development of a style of writing that was called personism. This is quite evident in almost every twist of the poem. The incorporation of personism in this poem connects it to other poems written earlier or later. One of the elements pertaining to his personism revolves around how art is incorporated in the poem, as well as apparent or visible to the reader once he reads the piece. This is clearly done within the first two or three lines of the poem, where the poet or speaker seeks to distinguish himself from being a painter and stating that he is a poet. Art is one of the fundamental aspects or elements of personism. O’Hara states that he is a poet while Mike Goldberg, his friend, is a painter. In this case, the poem comes as evidence for one of the fundamental themes pertaining to personism, where the creation of painting and poetry are represented as processes based on normal, daily experiences. In addition, the explanation of painting and poetry is used to push the reader to acknowledge and appreciate the two artworks. He underscores the fact that poets use words to outline or express their ideas and feelings while painters make use of visual cues to express or enhance their ideas and feelings. In essence, O’Hara is calling for recognition of artistry and its appreciation (James and Breslin, 67).
In the second stanza of the poem, the poet is outlining the visits that he makes to see the progress that Goldberg has made with his painting. He outlines the fact that his friend was having problems completing the painting. Even after completion, the poet outlines the fact that the painting does not seem to incorporate any sardine images. All in all, it goes without saying that there is nothing surprising about the visits that O’Hara makes to his friend as he works on the painting named Sardines. In fact, it may be taken as commonplace for Goldberg to interrupt or stop working on his painting and join his friend on having a drink. However, the reader senses that, beneath the surface, O’Hara’s visit is not an imposition per se; rather it is a potential source of inspiration (Ashbery, 65). Goldberg is not the temperamental kind of artist who likes working in solitude, rather, he carves the personality of a gracious host, who welcomes his guests, as well as whatever conversation or even ideas with which the other party would come.
It is at this time that O’Hara starts working on his poem named “Oranges” albeit with a casual attitude just like his friends. The reader would notice the repetition of the words “days go by” just as is the case for the section that deals with the painting that Goldberg is doing. This phrase is, essentially, used to underline the mundane or dull and uneventful passage of time (James and Breslin, 37). However, it draws a similarity between the two jobs, where the work of a painter and a poet is founded on the uneventful and normal passage of time. According to O’Hara, the works of art do not incorporate a mysterious and obscure process that would not be interrupted. In fact, the creative process is not an undertaking that is characterized by disconnection from what may be termed as a normal life, rather it follows and is inspired by the rhythms pertaining to everyday experiences of an individual (James and Breslin, 34). On the same note, the dull and uneventful passage of time does not come as a hindrance to innovation and creativity. In fact, familiar experience may come as a fundamental source of art, beauty and inspiration. It is worth noting that, by the end of the poem, the speaker acknowledges to have written or come up with twelve poems, which he can give the title “Oranges” while his friend has completed his painting (Ward, 67).
Another crucial theme of the poem is the relationship that exists between language and the qualities or actual objects that it tries to describe. The poem underlines the inescapable nature of language in any description pertaining to the world. It is worth noting that even Goldberg, an individual who mostly focuses on visual mediums does not have the capacity to entirely avoid language’s influence in his view of the world (Ashbery, 54). It is worth noting that the painter Goldberg incorporates the words SARDINES in the painting since he realized that it required something there or was void at that place. This underlines the integrated nature of language and the things that it wishes to say.
Personal value
The works of Frank O’Hara have contributed immensely to the literary world. Whether or not he used the same techniques as other poets of his time is immaterial. However, sometimes it is difficult to transfer some of these effects to the personal level. Nevertheless, the theme of certain works such as “Nocturne” and “Having Coke with You” comes in handy. The two works underline the fact that love should triumph over every temptation, hindrance or obstacle. As much as I would not entirely be for the “homosexual” love, as is the case for Frank O’Hara, it goes without saying that love can be translated in almost every circumstance. On the same note, it is noteworthy that the two underline the immortality of love as to transcend the present life.
In addition, there is an incredible lesson to be learnt from the poem “Why I am not a Painter”. This is especially as to the need to examine the experiences and normal world and drawing inspiration from them. The fundamental lesson, in this case, is that creativity does not come from without, rather it comes from within an individual. In essence, it would be immaterial to immerse oneself into a presumably ideal/ no distraction world hoping to enhance one’s creativity.
Works cited
Smith, Edward Lucie. An Interview with Frank O’Hara” in Frank O’Hara: Standing Still and Walking in New York. San Francisco: Grey Fox, 1983. Print, 3
Ward, Geoff. Statutes of Liberty: The New York School of Poets. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1993. Print.
Ashbery, John. “A Reminiscence” in Homage to Frank O’Hara. Bolinas: Big Sky, 1988. 20. Print
Perloff, Marjorie. Frank O’Hara: Poet among Painters, Parnassus 6. Fall-Winter 1977: 241-57. Print
James E. and Breslin,B. “Frank O’Hara,” From Modern to Contemporary: American Poetry, 1945-1965. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984, p. 222. Print
Lehman, David. The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of Poets. New York: Anchor Books, 1999.
O’Hara, Frank. Collected Poems. Ed. Donald Allen. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
