A Place, at a Time, on a Day Frank O’Hara, born March 27, 1926 in Baltimore, Maryland, was an American writer, poet, and art critic. An active leader of the “New York School” of poets, a group that included John Ashbery, Barbara Guest, and James Schuyler, he wrote many poems that revolutionized poetry by challenging poetic form in American poetry. Much of O’Hara’s work incorporates various types of events, including bits of popular media news and daily conversations. He wrote in a fast, breathless, rambling style, which is depicted in many of his poems, of which were often written during lunch hour break from being a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He pulled inspiration for his work from jazz music, surrealism, abstract …show more content…
Being that Frank O’Hara wrote this poem during his lunch hour, there is little depiction of a formal rime scheme or meter, besides the fact that the poem is divided into twenty-nine lines and five stanzas. The only sense of rhyme is the internal one in line three between “1959” and “shoeshine.” Furthermore, the poem contains no punctuation, and almost all of the lines have an enjambment. The easiest technique for reading this poem is to look at it as three separate sentences. The first and second stanzas are sentences on their own, and the last three stanzas are one long sentence. The sentences are connected together through widespread use of he word “and,” giving the idea that the speaker is busy, almost as if he is in a constant rush. This is probably due to the fact that O’Hara was in fact in a rush when he was writing the poem. In addition to the run on sentences, the speaker often goes off topic and rants about a topic unrelated to the subject of the poem. Billie Holiday was a well-known jazz singer, and jazz music is strongly based upon improve. Much like the techniques use in jazz, the speaker of his poem seems to also be making up things as they go. The entire poem consists of the speaker listing of what he is doing or what he plans to …show more content…
As it is stated in the title of the poem, readers know instantaneously that the predominant subject that will carry out throughout the poem is death. Unlike many other elegies in post-modern poetry, the title is the only time we speak of death until we reach the end of the poem. O’Hara has written this piece with the assumption that the readers already know who Lady Day is, and are affected by her death just as strongly as he is. When in reality this literary piece is still being read today; a time when majority of people are unfamiliar with Billie Holiday. Another technique that is creatively integrated is the expression of memories and thought of the past in this poem. The Day Lady Died is written strictly in present tense up until the last stanza, which adds additional emphasis on the last set of lines, which coincidentally are the only lines in the poem with the most reference to Holiday. Another way in which the speaker does this, is throughout the poem when he begins by just listing of normal details of his day, and suddenly upon having head of the news of Holiday’s death, his whole body is taken over with mourning and he begins to sweat. Initially, one would not presume that the poem would evoke such deep emotion and meaning from its readers, but the meaning is ends up being much greater than ever
The informal language and intimacy of the poem are two techniques the poet uses to convey his message to his audience. He speaks openly and simply, as if he is talking to a close friend. The language is full of slang, two-word sentences, and rambling thoughts; all of which are aspects of conversations between two people who know each other well. The fact that none of the lines ryhme adds to the idea of an ordinary conversation, because most people do not speak in verse. The tone of the poem is rambling and gives the impression that the speaker is thinking and jumping from one thought to the next very quickly.
First of all, the speaker starts her poem personifying death as a kind gentleman who comes to pick her up for her death journey. It is obvious if the reader looks at “He kindly stopped for me” (2). T...
O'Hara, Frank. "The Day Lady Died." The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Ed. Jahan Ramazani et al. 3rd ed. 2 vols. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003. 2: 365.
I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.
Frank O'Hara's introspective response to the death of jazz artist Billie Holiday in 1959 showcased his unique ability to make art out of tragedy. He manifested the lamentations of dejected fanatics into a simplistic yet powerful poem entitled The Day Lady Died so that he could effectively eulogize the beloved singer and pay homage to her short-lived career. In it, he explored the pervasiveness of death and its ability to both transfix and sadden the spirit of an individual. Unconventional form was what allowed him to examine deaths effects and it acted as a catalyst throughout the poem, enabling O’Hara to clearly and unapologetically express his message. Critics note the significance of O’Hara’s form and message in relation to the poems epoch—the
The constant process of life and death, driven by an indestructible progression of time, explains the attitude of carpe diem expressed in three poems focused on human love being a fickle matter. Within the poems “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick, and “Youth’s the Season Made for Joys” by John Gay, the concept of how a shy attitude towards the inevitable end of all life is exposed as an inherently useless view. Nevertheless, though their primary themes and ideas of this constant procession of time are obviously expressed, the manner in which they do this, through figurative language and imagery, is the main point in which each of these three poems can be contrasted and examined
The interpretations of what comes after death may vary greatly across literature, but one component remains constant: there will always be movement. In her collection Native Guard, Natasha Trethewey discusses the significance, permanence and meaning of death often. The topic is intimate and personal in her life, and inescapable in the general human experience. Part I of Native Guard hosts many of the most personal poems in the collection, and those very closely related to the death of Trethewey’s mother, and the exit of her mother’s presence from her life. In “Graveyard Blues”, Trethewey examines the definition of “home” as a place of lament, in contrast to the comforting meaning in the epitaph beginning Part I, and the significance
Jane presents one aspect of woman in The Waking collection (1953): Ross-Bryant views Jane as a young girl who is dead. The poem expresses concern with the coming of death. This poignant elegy is presen...
this poem. I believe it is mainly what the poem is about. To make the
At a glance, the poem seems simplistic – a detailed observance of nature followed by an invitation to wash a “dear friend’s” hair. Yet this short poem highlights Bishop’s best poetic qualities, including her deliberate choice in diction, and her emotional restraint. Bishop progresses along with the reader to unfold the feelings of both sadness and joy involved in loving a person that will eventually age and pass away. The poem focuses on the intersection of love and death, an intersection that goes beyond gender and sexuality to make a far-reaching statement about the nature of being
The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.
Emily Bronte’s Remembrance is about one who is reminiscing a lost love who had died. It is an elegy poem which is “a poem that laments the death of a person, or one that is simply sad and thoughtful.” Remembrance is also a lyric poem in which “expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet.” The poem reflects the historical context of the 18th century and expresses the romanticism of the Victorian era. Bronte has influenced her 18th century audience and 21st century audience to connect to the tone and mood of the poem through the literary devices she has used, such as imagery and repetition. Through her use of these literary elements, Bronte has created a sense of heartache and remembrance for those who have experienced similar loss to the loss present in the poem. For me personally, these elements, along with the romanticism she has included, make me appreciate my life in that I have not yet experienced this heartache, and encourages me to realise how fortunate I am to have people in my life in which have a similar love for me as the speaker has for their lover.
Herrick’s examination of death and decay is without gore or sadness rather he uses positive and beautiful imagery of writing and sun and “raine” (63). The optimistic, excited tone of the poem keeps it from sounding like a lesson rather than a love charm. In lines 65-66, the speaker is romanticizing death by using the infinity of writing to preserve their love in “a fable, song” for everyone to experience (65-66). He wants his love to realize that even though they can be immortalized in words, before that time comes they need to “goe a Maying” to make their story more significant when they are older and when they are gone (70).
“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a poem composed by Thomas Gray over a period of ten years. Beginning shortly after the death of his close friend Richard West in 1742, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was first published in 1751. This poem’s use of dubbal entendre may lead the intended audience away from the overall theme of death, mourning, loss, despair and sadness; however, this poem clearly uses several literary devices to convey the author’s feelings toward the death of his friend Richard West, his beloved mother, aunt and those fallen soldiers of the Civil War. This essay will discuss how Gray uses that symbolism and dubbal entendre throughout the poem to convey the inevitability of death, mourning, conflict within self, finding virtue in one’s life, dealing with one’s misfortunes and giving recognition to those who would otherwise seem insignificant.
Losing a loved one is one of the hardest experiences every person must go through. The experience does not end with the loss though, but begins with it. The loss of a dear person leads those left behind into a downward spiral of emotions and memories. A poem entitled “Lucy Gray” by William Wordsworth focuses on that loss and the emotions that follow it. By reading the poem one can objectively experience both the grief that Lucy Gray’s death brings on but also her parents’ acceptance of her death.