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A Step Away From Them Analysis

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A Step Away From Them Analysis
“A Step Away From Them” is a poem written by Frank O’Hara’s observation of the city during his lunch hour. As he walks through the city, his observations become more of introspections about life and how time is a constant reminder of our time on Earth. O’Hara distances himself from those whom he had lost, but only to realize his own personalize awareness of his life and the changes around him. The first stanza of the poem creates certain attentiveness to details of one’s surrounding, in such that the speaker has a sense of being in the present. The speaker uses sensory details to captivate his surrounding environment. With “the hum-colored cabs” being the restless noise of the cabs being on idle to the “glistening torsos” and “yellow helmets” being the constant workers working throughout the day in the sweltering heat (lines 2, 5 and 6). These phrases become visuals of daily life in New York City and the changes that the city goes through on a day-to-day …show more content…
At first, “lunch hour” does not seem to have some symbolic meaning; it is just a literal meaning of being on a break from work. But as the poem moves on, it is a repetitive reminder of time becoming an emphasis on the speaker’s thoughts. The sight of “bargains in wristwatches” in line 13 is the second mention of time being referenced, which will be continued on throughout the poem. The line is also about bargaining with his own time and life: what he should be doing during his break, in a literal sense, and how he should make or deal with his own life (gaining valuable experiences versus leading an average lifestyle). He becomes well aware of the sense of life people are leading and the vibrant nature of the city during his stroll. The length of his lunch hour reminds him of how much time he can spend reflecting and embracing the motions the city has to offer before it all ends and having him go back to
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