31 pages • 1 hour read
Ave Maria
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
“Ave Maria” is an experimental free verse poem by American New York School poet Frank O’Hara. It originally appeared in his 1964 collection “Lunch Poems,” and then later in the posthumous 1995 collection “The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara.” This poem showcases the adoration for cinema which infused so much of the poet’s work, and appeals to mothers across America to allow their children the joy of discovering cinema for themselves.
Poet Biography
Frank O’Hara was an influential American poet, art critic, and casual musician. He was considered a central figure in the “New York School” of poets and artists in the 1950s and ’60s, which included John Ashbery, Barbara Guest, James Schuyler, Kenneth Koch, and others.
O’Hara was born in 1926 in Baltimore and grew up in Grafton, Massachusetts. He studied piano rigorously in childhood and served in the US Navy for three years before returning home to study at Harvard University, where he shared a room with fellow writer and artist Edward Gorey. He developed a passion for visual art as well as music, which would lead him to his work with the Museum of Modern Art. In 1951 he moved to New York City, where he worked at the museum selling postcards at the front desk; he would later move through the ranks to become assistant curator of painting and sculpture.
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