Analysis Of The New York Poets
Assignment title: To what extent did the New York School poets bring a fresh sense of life to poetry?
Close analysis of the poems written by Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch, has lead me to believe that they bring a fresh sense of life in the poetry they write with the help of many factors ranging from the way they structure their poems, which is in the free form. To contextual and social references through the arts and the city. Effectively, almost embodying life in their poems, I believe that this was only possible through the use of free form poetry.
Free form poetry lacked the traditional poetic characteristics normally associated with traditional poetry or “academic” poetry, and could be seen as similar to a collage. Due to the fact that each poem took is constructed of various images which coincide to make one larger image, evident in Koch’s poem ‘Fresh Air’.
This idea is evident in ‘Fresh Air’ due to the way in which Koch portrays his thoughts about academic poetry which is almost lifelike, in the sense that the poem lacks a structure yet still tells a story, making the poem itself almost autonomous. This can be justified as the structure, which is free form, lacks both metre and a rhyme scheme. This poem in particular could be viewed as being similar to a collage, which is a type of art form made by sticking various images or materials to make one larger image. Just like a collage, ‘Fresh Air’ pieces together various events to create a story. Koch may have done this to prove that just like academic poetry, free form poetry can tell a story when necessary, just using a different approach, a new approach.
The first stanza of ‘Fresh Air’ begins ‘At the Poem Society a black haired man…’. This makes the poem seem almost like a recount of an event instead of an actual poem, implying that this may have been done in order to deviate from traditional standards set by academic poetry, and to bring a sense of life to the poem itself. In an interview
Close analysis of the poems written by Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch, has lead me to believe that they bring a fresh sense of life in the poetry they write with the help of many factors ranging from the way they structure their poems, which is in the free form. To contextual and social references through the arts and the city. Effectively, almost embodying life in their poems, I believe that this was only possible through the use of free form poetry.
Free form poetry lacked the traditional poetic characteristics normally associated with traditional poetry or “academic” poetry, and could be seen as similar to a collage. Due to the fact that each poem took is constructed of various images which coincide to make one larger image, evident in Koch’s poem ‘Fresh Air’.
This idea is evident in ‘Fresh Air’ due to the way in which Koch portrays his thoughts about academic poetry which is almost lifelike, in the sense that the poem lacks a structure yet still tells a story, making the poem itself almost autonomous. This can be justified as the structure, which is free form, lacks both metre and a rhyme scheme. This poem in particular could be viewed as being similar to a collage, which is a type of art form made by sticking various images or materials to make one larger image. Just like a collage, ‘Fresh Air’ pieces together various events to create a story. Koch may have done this to prove that just like academic poetry, free form poetry can tell a story when necessary, just using a different approach, a new approach.
The first stanza of ‘Fresh Air’ begins ‘At the Poem Society a black haired man…’. This makes the poem seem almost like a recount of an event instead of an actual poem, implying that this may have been done in order to deviate from traditional standards set by academic poetry, and to bring a sense of life to the poem itself. In an interview