Response to #4

Frank O’Hara’s poetry is a perfect example of the timeless and contemporaneous beauty that Charles Baudelaire describes in his writings. Baudelaire explains that beauty has two components: one “eternal and invariable,” the other “of a relative circumstantial element.” O’Hara frequently refers to names and places important to his current position, but the sentiments he expresses are felt in all periods. For example, in his poem “The Day Lady Died,” he explains that he “will get off the 4:19 in Easthampton at 7:15 and then go straight to dinner and I don’t know the people who will feed me.” The specifics of the time and place of his train stop are taken from his life as a New Yorker; a train ride is familiar to almost all residents of the city. The idea that he plans dinner without knowing where it will come from strikes a universal note. It is certainly relatable to a New Yorker who has an entire city of cooks ready to prepare a meal. There are also those who reside in all cities and towns who know they must eat at some point, but have no one to feed them, and no resources to get food themselves. On the other hand, there are the fortunate ones who plan to be fed because they always have someone willing to do their service, for money, for fame, for love. O’Hara describes a feeling that is born from his personal life, but is applicable to people of all situations and times. This is the beauty of that Baudelaire speaks of, one line of one poem connecting all of humanity.