On Action Painting Notions In Frank O' Hara's Lunch Poems

Lunch Poems (1964) is one of the poetry volumes written by Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) who belongs to the New York School of poetry. Since O'Hara likes to incorporate techniques of different kinds of arts such as music, film and painting, etc. into his poetry, his poems often strike readers as elusive and difficult. However, by a close reading of Lunch Poems, it is not difficult to find that the lines of the poet often reflect notions of Action Painting which provide keys to comprehend verses of Frank O'Hara. Action Painting is a style of painting popular in the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s. O'Hara was deeply engaged with Action painters. The thesis aims to analyze LP through four key notions of Action painting which are "Action", "the Present", "Variety" and "Event".Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the historical background and four key notions of Action Painting. "Action Painting" is the product of the development of Western painting and the Cold War. Different from the Soviet Union art, American art in the Cold War gives high priority to freedom and variety. By introducing the historical background then, this chapter intends to illustrate that Action Painting is the very response to its age. Then the chapter outlines four key notions of Action Painting, namely, "Action", "the Present", "Variety" and "Event" which are discussed and examined respectively.Chapter Two discusses O'Hara's involvements with Action Paintings. Ever since O'Hara moved to New York in 1951, he maintained an intimate relationship with Action painters. They frequently held discussions and exchanged ideas with one another. LP was composed when the poet was working in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, a time when O'Hara was most deeply engaged with Action Painting.Chapter Three analyzes two poems titled "Music" and "The Day Lady Died" separately in Lunch Poems. In those two poems, O'Hara circulates around New York as if an Action painters walks around his canvas, changing from one scene to another. Poetic creation seems to become an arena in which to act for the poet.Chapter Four examines "Poem", "Personal Poem" and "Song" in Lunch Poems in light of "The Present" notion of Action Painting. By a closing reading of the poems, it is not hard to find that the poet values "the Present" just as Action painters do. The poems of Frank O'Hara constantly recorded each moment of his own which give a sense of immediacy and readers of his poems are brought back as if they are in "the Present" which O'Hara experienced.Chapter Five probes the "variety" notion of Action Painting in "A Step Away From Them" and "On Rachmaninoff's Birthday" in Lunch Poems. Like Action painters who put scraps of paper, different colors of paints and metals, etc. into their works of art, the poet includes a variety of things in his poems such as Coca-Cola, bricks and a cheeseburger, etc. which reflects the "variety" notion of Action Paintings. For the poet and Action painters believe that objects both familiar and unfamiliar should be given equal treatments and not be neglected by artists.Chapter Six analyzes two poems both titled "Poem" from the perspective of the "event" notion in Action Painting. Action painters make their works of art public events as well as private ones. O'Hara is also keenly fond of this "event" notion. Both poems discussed in this chapter are the poet's personal response to public events which illustrate that he is quite sensitive to events happened around him and infused his personal response to public event in his poems, thus making public events into the poet's private domain.By applying the interpretive framework which is consisted of the four key notions of Action painting to O'Hara's Lunch Poems, the thesis draws the conclusion that O'Hara's poems seems to be quite different from Action paintings, yet the poet was greatly influenced by Notions Action Painting which find their expressions in O'Hara's Lunch Poems.