O'Hara, Frank

O'Hara, Frank

1926–66, American poet, b. Baltimore, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1950), Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (M.A., 1951). His poetry is spontaneous, vernacular, witty, personal, and very much of its time and place—New York City, 1951–66. Closely associated with many of the painters of his time, O'Hara was a founder of the Poet's Theatre and later the center of the New York school of poets (consisting of himself, John AshberyAshbery, John,
1927–2017, American poet, b. Rochester, N.Y., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1949), Columbia (M.A., 1951). Among the most acclaimed and influential American poets of his era, he was (1960s–70s) one of the so-called New York school of poets, which also included
..... Click the link for more information. , Kenneth KochKoch, Kenneth
(Kenneth Jay Koch) , 1925–2002, American poet, novelist, and playwright, b. Cincinnati. After studying at Harvard and Columbia he was associated with the Artist's Theatre, Locus Solus
..... Click the link for more information. , and James Schuyler). His writings include Collected Poems (1971), Early Writing (1977), Poems Retrieved (1977), and Selected Poems (2008).

Bibliography

See biography by B. Gooch (1993); memoir by J. LeSueur (2003); M. Perloff, Frank O'Hara: Poet among Painters (1997); D. Lehman, The Last Avant-Garde: The Making of the New York School of Poets (1999); G. Ward, Statutes of Liberty: The New York School of Poets (2d ed. 2001).

O'Hara, (Francis Russell) Frank

(1926–66) poet, art critic; born in Baltimore, Md. He studied at New England Conservatory of Music, Boston (1946–50), Harvard (B.A. 1950), and the University of Michigan (M.A. 1951). He worked for the Museum of Modern Art beginning in 1951, and as an editor for art magazines (1954–64). He wrote plays and art criticism and is noted for his surrealistic poetry, as in Selected Poems (1973).