- The thing about O'Hara's work is that it feels so lively, so relevant despite the difference in years between now and its time of publication. But it is also unmistakably a product of its time, as 'ahead of it' it may feel upon first glance - rife with pop culture references and dropping the contemporary big names of the 50s and 60s places his work squarely in that era.
- Linguistically, O'Hara was revolutionary. Perhaps this is in part due to the late 20th's general shift away from the impersonal, (overly) intellectual lyric style of the paragon Modernist poet. Perhaps it is also in part due to his tendency to write in such a way it feels as though he is speaking directly to you. If one is to break down one of his poems, to disregard most if not all line breaks, a great deal of his writing reads exactly like a letter I imagine he might write to a friend. And in fact a great deal of his writing was written about, and thus effectively to, some friend of his or another.
mar 30 2021 ∞
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mar 30 2021 +