University of Alkrta New York Poets at Harvard: A Critical Edition of the Edy Harvard Advocate Writings of John Ashbery ,Kemeth Koch, and Frank O'Hara (194% 195 1) by Michael John Londry 0 A thesis submitted to 1the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Am. Department of Engiish Edmonton, Alberta Spring 1997 Nationai Liirary 6ibli~)thèquenationale 1+1 OfCrnada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliogaphic Sennnnces senrices bibliographiques 395 WelIingbn Strciet 395, rue Wdlingbn OüawaON KlAONI OaawaON KtAON4 Canada canada The author has gr;mted a non. 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Abstract MA. thesis titlt: New York PatJ at HwadA Cntical Edition of the Early mard Advocate Writings of John Ashbery, Kenaeth Koch, and FrmL O'Hara (1947- 1951) Author: Micbael John Londry, Department of hglish, University of Alberta, Edmonton. Alberta, Canada. Description of thesir This critical edition thesis seeb to collect al1 the writings that were published by the poets John Ashbery, Kameth Koch, and Fraok O'Hara in the studeat-run journal The Harvard Advocate during their early careers. The writings are textuaily and ctitically annotated, and an introduction to the texts provides critical commentary as well as historical and biographicai context. Two short chronologies (one pnmarily biopphical and the derbibliographical) provide further cmtcxtualization. Two substantial interviews regardhg these poets' Harvard years and early literary development-one with Ashbery and one with Koch-are printed in full as appendices. Reface "Juveailia,whetber mitten within earshot of the Harvard Yard or in Kaasas City. Kansas, is likely to be just that,' says W11lia.mVan O'Co~morin his dismissive nview of The Harvani Advoaite Aatb010~a volume edited by Donald Hall in 1950.x Wbat Van O'Connor literally says is "juveniliaare juveniliau-but what he implies is thaî ndy alwaysjuveniüa are simply juvenile, are childish, are immature and thmfm. somehow. of Iittle interest Such a negative view of authon' eady writings has been rcmnrLably widespread. Listen to Robert Chaprnan gmdgingly introducing Saae Austen's first volume of juvenilia in 1933; more than dismissive, Chaprnan here seems a hair's-breadth from tossing the young Austen onto the tash heap: It will always be disputed whether such effusions as these ought to be published; and it may be that we have enough alnady of Jane Austen's early scraps. The author of the MEM01R thought a very brief specimen suffcient. But perhaps the question is hardly worth discussion. For if such manuscripts fmd theu way into ptübmries, iheir publication cm hardly be prevented. Tbe only sure way to prevent it is the way of destruction. which no one dare take. (Chapman, "Refaceu ix) It is fiaing tbat times have changed. Several valuable )larvard Advocate anthologies have beeo printed since Hall's 1950 collection, and large portions of Jane Austen's often fascinatingjuveniiia have been pub tished in ment decades-in forms ranging from coffee- table facsimile editions to various heavily-annotated scholarly treatments. As soon as one becomes intmsted in p~ocessin addition to product9 one is undentandably drawn to an author's early worl-even if written at a very young age or if plaidy immature. Almast by definition, a scholar of any author's development WUneed to dip back at least as far es the clearly immature work-if such is available-in order to make as full as possible an accounting of the artist's kcoming. Imagine if biographers wmto take a view toward lives similar to that which Van O'Connor and Chapman pnsume for Ii terature. Chapters about childhood and adolescence would be vey short. or never - William Van OTo~or.'WC ~ap~~ew'pocay 178.4 (~uîy1951): 241-24- wriuen; eariy events of questionable mahmty-thieving. excessive drinting, extra-marital affairs-would be mastly ignored as well. This is absmd. The pmject of biography would be utterly compmised if one were discourageci fmrn writiag about youth and the occasional dark patch. The study of juvenilia2-even if the pieces srr immature, evm of horrendous quaiity-is essential to any robust understanding of literary histoy, literary biography, and of artistic pracess itwlf. No artist arrives in the wddfuliy formed. fully comptent Evea Mo- required sevexai months. And exactly what happened in those rnonths we should be dying to icnow. Studying the early work of ariists is of course especidly intercsting when they have eventuail y matwed iato genuinely signüicant and innovative figures. Such is the case with îbe pets John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and Ftauk OWara, who have often been gathered by critics under the terni "New York School of Poets." Whether or not one accepts this sometimes contested label, these thee poets-individually and together-are among the most prominent American poets in the latter hdfof the twentieth century. While Kemetb Koch's third Selected Pbems was pubiished by hupf in 1994, a testament to the wide readership of his own verse, it may be that his influence as a teacha of poetry is at least as broad. For many years he has taught modem poetiy as well as creative writing workshops at Columbia University, and his books on the subject bave had a wide audience as well: Koch's impact in pedagogical &les has ban lasting, profound, and salutary. He revolutionized the teaching of poetry to childmn (in Wishes, Lies, and Dreams and Rose, Where Did You Get Thrrr Red?) and then did the same with elderiy nursing home residents (in I Nmer Told Anybody). (Lehan, "Dr.Funw 53) Several works on Eiank O'Hara have bcen puMished recently. includiug Elledge's eclectic anthology of essays, O'Hm: To & Truc to a City (1990). and Gooch's lengthy and somewhat coatroversial biography, A Citv Poet: The Life and Times of Frank OWara ( 1993). O'Hafa's Collected Pœms has been issued in a revised paperback format, and * By njuvcnitianI mcan not medy "childhoodwritingsn but mmperaily "dywoka A cdlwpe of mine once rnentioned to me that Lord Byron used the term "juvenilianto derto any art produced before the age of thirty. bath his life and wiitiag seem to be receiving more attention today than ever More. Regard for John Ashkry, too, remains extremely mg.Hatold Bloan-a champion of Ashbery's work for decades now-stiii nfers to him as "our -test living poet" (Shoptaw, back cover). And the words of John Tranter, fram a 1986 issue of the AustraIianjournal SçLipoi are as applicable today as they were ten years ago: "Asôberyk reputation at the present is immense. He is widcly regardeci as the fmest ptat work in the Engiïsh laquage today" (93). And the work of aU thepoets continues to k cmsistently and heaviiy anthologized. Perbaps equally sfnking, the iufiueoce of the New York Schwl amng avant-garde wnting in the United States (as well as elsewhm in the En@&-speaking world) is by DOW demonstrably vast fiom 1939 (the year two of the youngest "second-generatioa"New York School poets-Tony Towle and Bill Berkson-were born), fifty-five poets have been bom whom Paul Hoover includes in his recent Posmodem American Poetry: A Norton -hthology (1994). Of those f&ty-five poets, at least thirty3 have either (1) admitted to being strmgIy influenced by or (2) ken~eno~~ly compared to one or more of the New York School pets. if Hoover's anthology is at al1 rrpesentative, it would appear that over balf of the most acclaimed avant-garde pets writing in the United States today have ken touched by the New York Schwl. It can be argued that the pais of the New York Schwl now clearly rival-if not surpass-the Beau and the Black Mountain pets in the breadth of their Li terary influence. Despite this extensive evidence of critical attention and literary influence, the eady years of ther pats-excepting those of O'Hara, trrated in City Pcet (1993)-have ken tiïl now ody cursody discussed. This thesis airns to facilitaie and e~chderstanding of the My list includes the fdlowing pocîs, given hmin appoùmatc order of birth: Barbara Guest. James Schuyler, Keuward EImslie, Harry Mathews, Ted Bemgan, Jaseph Ceravdo, Tmy Towle, Bi11 Berbon, Tom Clark, Chades North, Rm Padgetî, Am Lauterbch, Tom Mandel, Maureen Owea Paul Violi, Magorie Wetisb, Anne Waldman, Alice Notiey, Beniadene Mayer, Andrci Codrescu, Paul Hoover, Ron SiIliman, David Sbapiro, David kâman, Eilecn Myles, Charfes Bernstein, John Yau, An Lange, David Trinidad, and Jim can0i.L eady pnid of these poets' dcvelopmeat: most @cuiariy the Harvard years, which appear to be ammg tbek most formative. I intend my tide "NewYak Pats at Harvardwto di attention to several central issues. First, there is the obvious fact of geograpby. Ai1 thepœts compIeted their undergraduate degrrts in hglisb Literature at Harvard Coliege-and at roiighly the same time-and aU three petswould later corne to live in New York for the majority dtheir post-collegiate y-.