John O’Hara (1926-1966) was one of the leaders of the “New York School” of poets, along with writers such as Barbara Guest, James Schuyler, and John Ashbery. His poetry was engaged in and entwined with other forms of arts such painting, music, and dance. He created new poetic forms that embraced the burgeoning art scenes that he saw around him.
Though he grew up in Maryland and later Massachusetts, he moved to New York shortly after graduating from Harvard and became a central staff member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He had little formal training, but the museum respected his skills as a curator.
O’Hara’s poetry first began to garner attention after Donald Allen published “The New American Poetry.” Five years later, O’Hara died suddenly in a car crash, but his poetic legacy lived on. He is now considered one of the most influential American poets.