A Study of O’Hara’s Poetry in the Light of Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy of Nature

Abstract

This study aims to utilize Maurice Merleau-Ponty's environmental phenomenology in analyzing the chosen poems written by Frank O'Hara, a significant figure in the New York School of Poetry.' Eco-phenomenology 'is where philosophy and ecology meet. Encouraging to review the traditional beliefs of Western philosophy about nature, this relatively new vogue of criticism deals with environmental issues from a phenomenological perspective. This article aims to analyze several poems by Frank O'Hara from the New York School of Poetry through the lens of eco-phenomenology. The goal is to challenge the perception that this poetic movement is solely urban and lacks awareness of the natural environment. By highlighting a divide within this poetry that demonstrates an understanding of a wider phenomenological world, encompassing both humans and non-humans, we aim to refute the notion of reductive urbanism. Being a Critique of Cartesian mind-body dualism and the anthropocentric perspective resulting from it, this study applies the chiasmic ontology of Merleau-Ponty to the selected poems. The present research demonstrates that O'Hara's poetry exhibits a prevailing mutual participation between human flesh and the 'flesh of the world', as described by Merleau-Ponty's concept of chiasm, particularly during moments of perception. This study examines how O'Hara's work demonstrates the concept of 'body', a crucial term in Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, and how this demonstration leads to the development of an eco-phenomenological perspective in his urban poetry. Conducting both textual and contextual analyses, this research brings to the fore O’Hara’s eco-consciousness and his vision of interrelations governing the universe, despite his embracing urban life.