On The Abstract Expressionist Features In Frank O’Hara And John Ashbery’s Poetry

Frank O’Hara and John Ashbery, along with Kenneth Koch, James Schuyler and Barbara Guest, constitute the first generation of the New York School poets. Frank O’Hara (1926-1966), the leading figure of the New York School, has been hailed as an important innovator. John Ashbery (1927-), the winner of nearly every major American award including Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award, has acquired a reputation as one of America’s most original yet most "difficult" contemporary poets. Although regarded as "the last authentic avant-garde movement in American poetry", the New York School of Poetry has been a matter of much debate since its appearance. The New York School poets seem to have been considered as a minor and ignored by the critics and scholars for a long time. Their poetry has been received as abstruse philosophical inquiry. However, the avant-garde "outsider", compared to Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock, Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, or movie star James Dean, was fast becoming an insider and trendsetter, influential to the second generation of the New York School poets, the modern poetry and painting, as well as the radical art development in the United States.Flourishing in the 1940’s and 1950’s in New York City, Abstract Expressionism sets "the milestone of art history, especially the modern art". The Abstract Expressionists, also known as the New York School painters and Action painters, took the risk of trusting intuitions and painted in a new, spontaneous, "direct" manner. The creating concepts and aesthetic views of Abstract Expressionist painters had a huge impact on modern artists. The New York School poets who are close friends and professional collaborators with the painters were particularly influenced. The painters set an example of significant risk-taking by pushing the boundaries of art. In the pursuit of creating new visual representations of unconsciousness and inner impulses, the painters adopt innovative techniques such as collage, juxtaposition, splashing, dripping and decentering, which have been incorporated into New York School poets’works. The Abstract Expressionists’concepts of creation such as spontaneity, openness and unconsciousness have been deeply rooted in the early works of the poets who started to cultivate their own styles at that time.This thesis aims to investigate the correlations between poetic strategies of O’Hara and Ashbery and composing methods developed by Abstract Expressionists. From the perspectives of collaborations with painters, adoption painting techniques and avant-garde creating concepts, this thesis tries to analyze their early poetry, attempting to demonstrate how the two representative poets have incorporated the Abstract Expressionism aesthetics into the making of their own poetry. More importantly, this thesis intends to provide a deeper understanding of the creating process with the combination of poetry and painting in order to appreciate the unique appeal of their poetry.This thesis consists of three parts. Introduction gives a brief summary of the New York School poets and their works, the general notions of the Abstract Expressionism, literature review on the studies of O’Hara and Ashbery’s poetry and the thesis arrangement is also included in this part.The main body consists of three chapters. Chapter One starts with illustration on the close connection between the New York School poets and Abstract Expressionists personally and professionally by probing into collaborations between the poets and painters, interviews, lectures and critical comments on the poets and their works by important critics such as Harold Bloom, Helen Vendler and Marjorie Perloff.Chapter Two penetrates into the painting techniques adopted in the Poetry of New York School poets. The New York School poets borrow innovative techniques from Abstract Expressionists and create their own poetry. The chapter mainly focuses on three major aspects including "scattered images", "all-over method" and "irrational creation". Through close reading of the poetry of O’Hara and Ashbery with painting techniques of Abstract Expressionism, namely "collage", "drip and splash", "juxtaposition" and "erasure", the thesis attempts to have a deeper understanding of the techniques adopted by poets in their process of creation.Chapter Three discusses creating concepts manifested in the O’Hara and Ashbery’s poetry from three perspectives:"spontaneity", "openness" and "unconsciousness". Avant-garde paintings provide new perspectives when creating poetry and enlarge the dimension of literary history, pushing the boundaries of what or how a poem can be. O’Hara and Ashbery experiment with the creating concepts of "automatic writing", "open form" and "unconsciousness mind" in their poetry.The last part goes to the conclusion which points out the importance and value in the development of avant-garde art and literature history of the New York School poets. In brief, from the perspective of Abstract Expressionism, this thesis expects to make an innovative investigation of their poetry. In presenting the artistic collaboration, the painting techniques and creating concepts in poetry, the New York School poets exert a deep influence on the second generation of the New York School artists and the development of modern art in America and the whole world.