On The Features Of Frank O’Hara’s Painterly Poems

Frank O’Hara（1926-1966）,one of the foundational members of the first generation New York School of Poetry,establishes himself as the life of the art world in New York.In the middle of the 20^th century,American Abstract Expressionism was booming in New York,helping it become the new center of the world culture.Abstract Expressionist artists focus on subjectivity,getting rid of the traditional idea and form of creation by a unique style,which exerted great influences on art and literature.O’Hara keeps close relationships and frequently collaborates with those artists.He is greatly inspired by the techniques and concepts of Abstract Expressionism and puts forward his own idea of creation in“Personism:A Manifesto”.From the perspective of Abstract Expressionism,this thesis aims to explore Frank O’Hara’s poems and his core concept of creation.In“Personism:A Manifesto”,O’Hara specifically demonstrates his concept of creation and his ambiguous attitude towards the presence and absence of subjectivity.On the one hand,he advocates a poetic style of confession,and most of his poems are spontaneous,casual and straight-forward.In doing so,his discrete self can be shown.On the other hand,he shows great concern about the fact that with the rapid development of the society,people prefer to pursue speed and efficiency.The anxiety of being ignored or absence increases as time flies.Through close reading,this thesis explores how the poet integrates other art forms like paintings into his own creation,hoping to help readers better understand O’Hara and the New York School poets as a whole.The thesis begins with an introduction of Frank O’Hara,Abstract Expressionism,and painterly poems.Additionally,a literature review on O’Hara’s poetry and thesis arrangement are also illustrated in this part.Chapter One sets out from the openness of O’Hara’s poetry and analyzes how he expresses his idea of automatic writing through free choice of subject matters and avoidance of order.Like Abstract Expressionist painters who transfer the process of creation into the arena to act,O’Hara writes down his daily activities and captures moments as they happen,often offering readers a new reading experience.O’Hara includes all subjects into his poems,and uses colloquial language and exotic cultural elements as well,which makes his poems much open and fresh in reading.Chapter Two focuses on O’Hara’s interaction and cooperation with other artists,and his painterly poems which learn from other art forms.He breaks the boundaries of traditional poems and makes poems flow freely among various art forms.O’Hara is inspired deeply by music and films as well,and contributes to making poetry,painting,music and films into a fusion,thus creating innovative and influential works with vigor and vitality.Chapter Three dwells on O’Hara’s idea of creation by analyzing“Personism:A Manifesto”,which summarizes his view on the presence and absence of subjectivity and intensifies the pull and push of his poetry.O’Hara compares writing a poem to making a telephone call,both of which are informative and colloquial with the characteristics of spontaneity and interactivity.Besides,readers may subconsciously participate in the interpretation of the poems.Through O’Hara’s works,it is easy to notice that during his lifetime,he is always struggling in the ambiguity of presence and absence and tries to utilize art as a weapon to fight against the doomed fate—death.Due to an analysis of O’Hara’s poems based on the themes,techniques and concept of creation,the thesis reaches the conclusion that immersed in the art world and inspired by the notions and techniques of Abstract Expressionism,O’Hara steps outside what is commonly known as the new classical poetry and marches into an uncharted but less inhibited territory.He is a great contributor to the development of contemporary American poetry and art,and his poems are worthy of attention and further study.