A Step Away From Them
In his narrative poem, A Step Away from Them, by Frank O'Hara, places the reader in Manhattan during the lunch hour of a typical Thursday work day during the 1950s. Throughout the poem Mr. O'Hara uses visual imagery and motion to describe workers, commerce, and transportation during this era. The poem is four stanzas long and each stanza is connected to the next with a few words that require the reader to pause before moving on to the next stanza. The first and last stanzas are similar in length with second and third stanzas being shorter. The pauses between each stanza are effective in moving the reader on to the next scene as if turning the corner of a busy street. The lines do not rhyme; however, the poem follows a rhythm by placing the emphasis at the end of the line. This rhythm makes effective use of the pauses between stanzas. O'Hara uses all capitals letters when describing several business such as; “JULIET'S CORNER and BULLFIGHT,” (O’Hara) giving the impression of posters or billboards.
His title, A Step Away from Them, suggest the author feels a kinship with the people he encounters. This could be his use of
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O'Hara often uses color when describing the people he encounters. As when he describes the laborers as feeding, "their dirty glistening torsos" we are left with brown images (O’Hara). He again uses this image seemingly when describing his lunch at Juliet's Corner. Is the chocolate malted a description of Giulietta Masina or the actual malted milkshake? Again a brown image is left with the reader. O'Hara also uses simile to make comparisons as in, the Negro man to the blonde chorus girl, once again using color to bring the contrast of this scene to life. This use of comparison is also used in his description of “laborers drinking coca cola while wearing yellow hard hats” (O’Hara). In his description of “a
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989 Words | 4 PagesThe poem A Step Away From Them by Frank O’Hara has five stanzas written in a free verse format with no distinguishable rhyme scheme or meter. The poem uses the following asymmetrical line structure “14-10-9-13-3” while using poetic devices such as enjambment, imagery, and allusion to create each stanza. A Step Away From Them occurs in one place, New York City. We know this because of the lines, “On/ to Times Square, / where the sign/blows smoke over my head” (13-14) and “the Manhattan Storage Warehouse.”
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