Response to # 3

Baudelaire defines modernity as "the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immovable." O'Hara lends himself to being a poet of true modernity, considering Baudelaire’s definition. Poetry is an art form; therefore, O'Hara has satisfied modernity in the sense that his creation is already at least "half of art." In The Day Lady Died, O'Hara states the time "It is 12:20 in New York a Friday three days after Bastille day, yes it is 1959..." what is more fleeting than time? It will never be 12:20 in New York three days after Bastille day in 1959 again. This also proves O'Hara as capturing modern experience in his poetry. Baudelaire states that "If for the dress of the day, which is necessarily right you substitute another, you are guilty of a piece of nonsense that only a fancy-dress ball imposed by fashion can excuse." O'Hara is certainly not guilty of producing a piece of nonsense (at least not in the eyes of Baudelaire) he is concerned with the ephemeral, the immediate, "the dress of the day," there are no substitutions; he is concerned with modern circumstance. In his descriptions of the city he portrays what is happening, to himself and others, in the now; and therefore, is truly depicting the modern experience.