The Selected Poems of Frank O'Hara [Paperback]

Frank O'Hara (Author), Donald Allen (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 1974

The overall arrangement of the poems is chronological. There is a brief chronology of O'Hara's short life and an index of titles.

Editorial Reviews

Review

1951
Adieu To Norman, Bon Jour To Joan And Jean-paul
Alma
Animals
Ann Arbor Variations
Answer To Voznesensky & Evtushenko
Anxiety
The Argonauts
Ashes On Saturday Afternoon
Aus Einem April
Autobiographia Literaria
Ave Maria
Avenue A
Biotherm (for Bill Berkson)
Blocks
Captain Bada
Chez Jane
Colloque Sentimental
Commercial Variations
Cornkind
The Critic
Day And Night In 1952
The Day Lady Died
Easter
Essay On Style
F. (missive & Walk) I. #53
Fantasy
First Dances
For Grace, After A Party
For James Dean
For The Chinese New Year & For Bill Berkson
Getting Up Ahead Of Someone (sun)
Hatred
Having A Coke With You
Heroic Sculpture
Hotel Transylvanie
The Hunter
An Image Of Leda
Image Of The Buddha Preaching
In Favor Of One's Time
In Memory Of My Feelings; To Grace Hartigan
Interior (with Jane)
Invincibility
Jane Awake
Joe's Jacket
John Button Birthday
July Is Over And There's Very Little Trace
Kitville
Les Etiquettes Jaunes
Les Luths
The Lover
Mary Desti's Ass
Mayakovsky
Meditations In An Emergency
Memorial Day 1950
A Mexican Guitar
Mozart Chemisier
The Muse Considered As A Demon Lover
Music
My Heart
My Heat
Naphtha
Ode
Ode (to Joseph Lesueur) On The Arrow That Flieth By Day
Ode On Causality
Ode On Necrophilia
Ode To Michael Goldberg ('s Birth And Other Births)
Ode To Tanaquil Leclercq
Ode: Salute To The French Negro Poets
On Looking At La Grande Jatte, The Czar Wept Anew
On Rachmaninoff's Birthday (1)
On Rachmaninoff's Birthday (2)
On Seeing Larry Rivers' Washington Crossing The Delaware At The Museum
A Pastoral Dialogue
Personal Poem
Petit Poeme En Prose
A Pleasant Thought From Whitehead
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem
Poem (at Night Chinamen Jump)
Poem (to James Schuyler)
A Poem In Envy Of Cavalcanti
Poem In January
Poem Read At Joan Mitchell's
Poem V (f) W
Poetry
Post The Lake Poets Ballad
A Postcard From John Ashbery
Radio
A Rant
Rhapsody
Romanze, Or The Music Students
Saint
Savoy
Second Avenue; In Memory Of Vladimir Mayakovsky
Sleeping On The Wing
Song
A Sonnet For Jane Freilicher
The Spirit Ink
Spleen
St. Paul And All That
A Step Away From Them
Steps
Summer Breezes
Tarquin
A Terrestial Cuckoo
The Three-penny Opera
To A Poet
To Gottfired Benn
To Hell With It
To Jane; And In Imitation Of Coleridge
To The Film Industry In Crisis
To The Harbormaster
Today
A True Account Of Talking To The Sun At Fire Island
The Unfinished
Variations On Pasternak's Main Liebchen
Walking To Work
What Appears To Be Yours
Why I Am Not A Painter
You Are Gorgeous And I'm Coming
A Young Poet
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Frank O'Hara was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1926, and grew up in Grafton, Massachusetts. He served in the US navy (1944-46) in the South Pacific, and attended the universities of Harvard and Michigan. In 1951 O'Hara settled in Manhattan, and soon became a central figure in a number of the city's artistic circles. For fifteen years he worked as an associate curator at the Museum of Modern Art, during which he became a passionate advocate of Abstract Expressionist painters such as William de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. O'Hara wrote an enormous quantity of poetry, little of which was published during his lifetime, but which was much admired by friends such as John Ashbery, Kenneth Kock and James Schulyler. He died on 25th July 1966, from injuries sustained in a beach-buggy accident on Fire Island. He is buried at Green River Cemetary on Long Island. His 'Collected Poems' was published in 1971, and won the National Book Award for Poetry. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 233 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (February 12, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394719735
• ISBN-13: 978-0394719733
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,078,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Frank O'Hara (1926-1966) was one of the most original and influential American poets of the twentieth century. Although he grew up in Grafton, Massachusetts, O'Hara developed into the quintessential poet of mid-century Manhattan; soon after his arrival in New York in 1951 he evolved a new kind of urban poetry that brilliantly captures the heady excitements of a golden period in the city's artistic life. O'Hara's style exudes an insistent, seductive glamour; his mercurial poems, at once open-ended and startlingly immediate, radiate an insouciant confidence that has lost none of its freshness over the decades. O'Hara was at the heart of a vibrant artistic circle that embraced fellow New York School poets John Ashbery, Barbara Guest, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler, as well as experimental painters such as Willem de Kooning, Larry Rivers, and Jasper Johns. Their achievements are movingly celebrated in many of his poems, while at the same time he paid loving tribute to popular idols such as James Dean and Lana Turner.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Lunch Date, April 22, 2000

By 

"dentropy" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Selected Poems of Frank O'Hara (Paperback)

It's not exactly pocket-sized, but this volume can be conveniently and inconspicuously carried to lunch uptown, midtown, downtown, or out of town. There is a great collection of poems here (no plays), from the short and sweet to the longer and sweeter. All set in beautiful type on nice, formal heavier paper and with the inclusion of "Personism: A Manifesto" for an introduction and the cover art by O'Hara's personal friend. The cover is more than just interesting, however, it really informs some of the questions about confessional poetry raised by O'Hara's work. Just look at it for awhile... By the way, if you haven't yet read Frank O'Hara's poetry, this volume is an excellent and accessible place to start. Grab a fork, a cup of coffee, and dig in!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great collection., April 19, 2004

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I. Sondel "I. Sondel - lover of the arts" (Tallahassee, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Selected Poems of Frank O'Hara (Paperback)

Dear Diary: I have fallen in love with a poet named Frank O'Hara. I started with "Lunch Poems," but needed more. This volume is divine. O'Hara sneaks up on you. His style is so simple, so conversational, that you often times are surprised by the sudden depth of feeling comminicated in a final phrase. I don't know enough about poetry to prattle on and on without betraying my ignornace in short order. However, I know what I like, I know what speaks to me. I know that Frank O'Hara was a great poet.

5.0 out of 5 stars Words from the short life of a New York Poet, September 3, 2011

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BYF - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Selected Poems of Frank O'Hara (Paperback)

Francis O'Hara was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry. Known throughout his life for his extreme sociability, passion, and warmth, O'Hara had hundreds of friends and lovers throughout his life, many from the New York art and poetry worlds.


O'Hara was active in the art world, working as a reviewer for Artnews, and in 1960 was Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions for the Museum of Modern Art. He was also friends with the artists Willem de Kooning, Norman Bluhm, Larry Rivers and Joan Mitchell.

In the early morning hours of July 24, 1966, O'Hara was struck by a dune buggy on the Fire Island beach. He died the next day of a ruptured liver. O'Hara was buried in Green River Cemetery on Long Island.

While O'Hara's poetry is generally autobiographical, it tends to be based on his observations of New York life rather than exploring his past. Among his friends, O'Hara was known to treat poetry dismissively, as something to be done only in the moment. n 1959, he wrote a mock manifesto called "Personism: A Manifesto." In it he explains his position on formal structure: "I don't ... like rhythm, assonance, all that stuff. You just go on your nerve.

O'Hara's poetry shows the influence of Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, Russian poetry, and poets associated with French Symbolism.
As part of the New York School of poetry, O'Hara to some degree encapsulated the compositional philosophy of New York School painters.This interaction between poet and painter is most evident in the poem "Why I am Not A Painter", in which O'Hara compares the process of writing a poem called "Oranges" with a description of his friend Mike Goldberg's creation of a painting entitled "Sardines". Neither work in the end contains a reference to its title. O'Hara was also influenced by William Carlos Williams.